Reflections
by theinkwell33
Summary: After witnessing the destruction Thanos leaves in his wake, Valkyrie and Bruce Banner find themselves on a high-stakes quest for answers, while Loki makes a deal that balances his soul on the edge of a knife. But in a universe full of illusions and threats, nothing is straightforward, not even one's own reflection. Spoilers for IW.
1. Arrival

**A/N: All right guys, so I know I'm supposed to be writing chapters for my other fics, but I had this idea in my head for an Infinity War AU fic that I couldn't stop thinking about. I felt that many story arcs in the film did not live up to their potential and wanted to explore what could have been, preferably with a little more humor and a little less death.**

 **This story will mainly feature Valkyrie, Bruce, Loki, Thor, Heimdall, Doctor Strange, and a rotating cast of the newer Avengers. It picks up right after the end of Thor: Ragnarok. Hope you enjoy! More to come soon.**

* * *

Valkyrie stared out the ship's window at the vast expanse of space, thinking about reflections. With the fluorescent lights of the escape vessel halls behind her, she saw her own face staring back with a bellicose expression. While she did not look much different than she had in her time on Sakaar, she felt as though she'd lived another thousand years in the past two days. She'd gone from eking out a life in that horrible, lawless place to facing her worst enemy head on. While she hadn't been able to drive a knife into Hela's heart, she took satisfaction in knowing the old hag had burned with the rest of Asgard. It was the only thing she could be grateful for at the moment.

The pain from watching her first home disappear into nothing more than space shrapnel was still too fresh. She had observed the Asgardians over the past few days as they waited in lines for medical attention and food rations. Everyone had the same shell-shocked, blank expression, the same limp mouths, and the same angry eyes. Even Loki, who, in Valkyrie's time knowing him had always sought out distraction and trickery to distract him from his pain, had become rather reclusive, emerging only for meals or to converse with their king. If Valkyrie hadn't known better, she'd have said Loki was plotting, but the look in his eyes was a bit too far away and vacant to have been generating a plan to turn any tides. It was safe to assume that he was instead indulging his proclivity for community theater and crafting a melodrama that would tell the story of the immigration of Asgardians to a new planet. From how he explained his last theater production, Valkyrie imagined this one would be just as shamelessly self-aggrandizing.

At least that would be a viable coping strategy. Although, from this perspective, perhaps Thor was the worst off of them all, for he had none. Having lost his home, his parents, his sister, and his eye, he was not processing the grief in any expected way. In fact, his attitude had become rather blase.

"What'll happen will happen. I make mistakes all the time, but everything seems to turn out fine in the end," he had taken to saying. At this, Valkyrie would always exchange a glance with the Hulk, who shared her view that Thor might be a great warrior and king, but he was frankly terrible in the aftermath of a crisis. Loki was the planner, the strategizer, the "get up when we are beaten down" type, but he wasn't offering any concrete suggestions at the moment.

Valkyrie was on the verge of having to do something drastic. She still served the throne, of course, and something had to be done about the plan for their people. What if Earth refused them entry? What if they came across something on their journey that posed a threat? What if they were attacked by space pirates? She wasn't sure if the latter existed, but the Grand Master had always threatened the scrappers with a looming dread of them; it was an effective way to keep scrappers (the only Sakaarians with regular access to commercial ships strong enough to exit the planet's atmosphere) from running away.

Someone had to be looking out for Asgard's safety, otherwise they'd meet a terrible end that would overwrite all they had endured to survive Ragnarok. Valkyrie didn't like when things were all for naught; it had happened to her too many times before. She wasn't keen on a repeat.

She blinked, bringing her wandering thoughts back into orbit, and looked again out the window. But what she saw now wasn't the reflection of her own face.

It was the side of a gigantic ship.

* * *

Even though Thor and Loki had been having a rather terrible week, it occurred to them that they couldn't afford to relax. They were now solely in charge of finding a safe haven for the Asgardians, and while Heimdall had been able to set their ship on course, there was more to worry about on their exodus than mere navigation. Namely, what to do when they reached Midgard.

From Loki's point of view, although he and Thor may have come to a partial truce, he did not mean to stay on Midgard with everyone for long. The initial plan was to bring about a peace between Loki and the Avengers, ensure Asgard would be welcomed using his silvertongue, and then he would leave in his own ship to make his way across the universe on his own. The Commodore, a ship they had permanently borrowed from the Grandmaster, would do nicely.

"It's what's best for everybody," Loki was saying to Thor as they stood in front of the window in the captain's quarters. "It's foolish for me to stay on Midgard. They hate me there. If we're honest, I don't really belong. Besides," he clasped his hands behind his back, "the longer you and I stay together, the more likely it is that I'll try to kill you in the middle of the night."

Thor just laughed at this, though his eye still held the faintest glimmer of doubt. Regardless of whether he actually would attempt fratricide now, Loki still enjoyed keeping that tiny bit of concern on the table. Maybe he was reformed, maybe not. He found certainties boring, especially when it came to trust.

"Look, Thor. You'll make a great king, and you'll have a better time leading them if I'm not here to make you nervous. You won't be looking over your shoulder for me to do something nefarious, which I, in all honesty, very well might."

"I appreciate that, but it doesn't have to be that way. You could stay."

"What is here for me?" Loki asked seriously. "I cannot rule, I once tried to massacre my true race, which I doubt they'd forgive me for, I do not have a home to return to, and our people will never trust me-"

"What makes you think I trust you?" Thor interrupted, gesturing between the two of them. "Should I not be the one who trusts you the least?"

Loki spread his hands, palms up. "Hey. I did come back. I could have been halfway across the galaxy by now. But I'm here." There was a pause, and then he shrugged unapologetically. "That's about as close to being trustworthy as I can get."

Thor accepted this with a gruff nod. "Even so, you and I are family and, while I live, I won't stop saving a place here for you. Besides, you forget that in the years to come, if I meet my end, the only heir remaining would be you."

Loki smiled. "Are you seriously suggesting that I could ever qualify as a rightful king? I know I ruled as Odin, but that was different. All I did was keep the people distracted and happy; I did not conquer or pillage, I did not rule as any true Asgardian would have. And that's because I'm not Asgardian, Thor. Why can't you understand that?"

"Enough." Thor moved to stand directly in front of his brother, blocking most of Loki's view out the window. The king's solitary eye was wide and intense with sincerity. "How many different ways do I have to show it? I've tried again, and again. Maybe just telling you outright is better: I don't care that you're Jotun. I just never got the chance to explain that. To talk with you. You didn't let me. You jumped straight to conclusions that night when I destroyed the Bifrost. Why can't you accept that your parentage changes nothing about the bond between us? Father saw it, Mother saw it, even I did, and I am not nearly as smart as you. There is no illusion here, save the one you make to punish yourself. What must I do to prove it to you?"

Loki sighed. He really did not want to have this discussion right now. How he felt was irrelevant, if he and Thor were always to disagree anyway. Some scars are too painful to confront. He decided to change the subject instead.

"Please, be realistic. You wouldn't want me to rule Asgard. You saw how it was going before. You even said the realms were in chaos."

"That's actually another thing I wanted to ask about." Thor crossed his arms in a casual, conversational gesture and leaned his back against the glass. "Don't get me wrong, I'm still very angry at you for letting me think you were dead. Again. But, just between the two of us, what exactly were you doing all that time? And don't say commissioning a huge statue of yourself or directing community theater. You may thrive on preserving outward appearances, but I'm not stupid. More goes on in that head than you let on."

For once, this was an answer Loki didn't have to fabricate. He was just surprised Thor had seen through the act of aimlessness he'd set up while masquerading as Odin. He was secretly pleased his brother had managed to keep up. Perhaps it was time to reward him with some honesty. He expounded, beginning to pace as he talked, unable to conceal the slightest proud smile.

"During my rule, I kept the people oblivious and trusting. Convinced them to love me after my heroic death. But all that was just spite; I know how much Odin would have hated my being revered. I did the real work while they weren't paying attention. Surely you have heard the rumors about the scourge of the universe. The infinity stones." Here, he stopped pacing and shot a meaningful look at Thor, who regarded him with a narrowed eye.

"The debacle with the tesseract sticks in the memory. A bit."

"Well, I wasn't going to just leave a precious infinity stone sitting in our vaults waiting for Thanos to come find it. I was preparing for the next war. I know you and Sif saw it coming too, and you both left in pursuit of answers. Believe me, I was happy to send you off."

"Why?"

"I brought about Thanos' hunger for the Tesseract, and I felt I should bear the sole responsibility for it. I had a plan, you just never asked."

"You do like to keep people in the dark about your plans," Thor observed, though not unkindly. "I used to complain to Father about it, but he seemed to find your secrecy endearing."

Loki lifted an eyebrow. "Did he? I never got the impression he respected anything about me. Perhaps it's escaped your notice, but our Father's lies were his only lasting legacy. His lies were my only birthright."

"If you remember, brother, he put you on the throne while I was banished. We were both raised to be kings."

"No, I was raised as a pawn," Loki snarled, gazing up past Thor's shoulder at the smoldering stars. "What did Father-"

He froze mid-snarl. Something was rising out of the darkness outside the window. Something massive, ominous, and familiar. He stared open-mouthed at what was now in view outside the window. Thor, oblivious, stood waiting for an answer, but Loki's mind was light-years away, spinning and skipping with panic. Whatever he was going to say was long forgotten. Something far worse had taken precedence. He was glad his hands were still clasped behind his back, because for the first time in many long years, they were shaking.

When the elapsed silence became too long to justify as merely thinking, he rephrased quietly, "What did Father always say to the two of us?"

Thor, who had finally realized something was wrong, turned to see where Loki was looking. To see what he was looking at. And then comprehension dawned and he muttered, "A wise king never seeks out war…"

They finished together, "...but must always be ready for one."


	2. Assembly

**A/N: Thank you so much for reading! Hope you enjoy this latest chapter! I'll have more soon.**

* * *

Valkyrie had barely registered that their ship now had company when there was a tremendous lurch. She grabbed for the windowsill to steady herself, and the drink she'd been holding in one hand sloshed in an ice blue wave onto the floor. She muttered a curse and adjusted her grip as the ground swayed beneath her.

The walls of the ship shuddered under the sharp braking, and so did her insides. Feeling suddenly queasy, she watched as people at the makeshift bar on the other side of the room braced themselves against the counter. Even from here, she could hear bottles of alcohol as they tipped and clinked and shuddered. It would be quite a shame if any of them broke. The Grandmaster had stocked all his ships with the finest in the galaxy. She'd drained quite a few of them herself.

When the ship returned to normal angles of slant, Valkyrie narrowed her eyes and stood. Everyone at the bar had perked up too, alert and concerned. She wondered why the ship had stopped, and quickly came to the conclusion that it had likely been halted by force. If that was the case, whoever was in that ship had powerful star force beam path generators, multiple engines, and most likely a crew with violent intentions. Space pirates, she decided. She was rather shocked to realize they must be real; she had thought them another one of the Grandmaster's fictions to keep his "free" people in line.

"This is going to get ugly," she said to herself, and drained the drink in her hand. She let the glass fall to the ground, where it smashed into a few feeble fragments. The call rose in her head, unbidden: _Another!_ Some Asgardian traditions never did die.

She thought about asking the makeshift barkeep for one last drink - something good enough that it wouldn't be a shame to die by pirates with the taste of it on her lips. This contemplation was abandoned when the sound of hurried footsteps began to issue from down the hall She whirled to find Thor and Loki sprinting toward her, both of them pale and stricken.

"Thanos," Thor cried as they approached, outstretching a hand as if to summon her already rapt attention, "that's Thanos' ship! He's frozen us in place, and pod ships are coming our way. He's coming!"

Valkyrie hadn't exactly been living under a rock during her time in Sakaar, but her pop culture references still weren't all that great. "Who?"

There was a brief exchange of exasperated looks between the two brothers, and Loki's face held the distinct obstinance of someone who wasn't going to go within ten feet of an explanation. Eventually Thor put both hands at his sides and said, "He's intent upon collecting powerful infinity stones to amass power."

She scrunched her eyebrows. "What does that have to do with us?"

"We used to have one in our possession. And Thanos is not going to be happy when he finds out the Space stone sat in our Asgardian vaults for years under Loki's watch. He's going to be even less pleased when he finds out it got destroyed with the rest of our planet. We don't have what he wants - _it's gone_ \- and even on a good day, Thanos is not the kind to leave many survivors, if the stories are true."

Loki opened and closed his mouth as if he was about to say something but thought better of it. Thor didn't seem to notice, but Valkyrie did. Scratch the space pirates idea; a volatile, rampaging jeweler was way worse. At least pirates had a purpose to their plunder. Thanos just sounded like a murderer. She'd seen enough murderous beings to last her several lifetimes, and they were all annoyingly irascible. There was no reasoning with _that_ kind of nuts.

"So, we're gonna die?" she clarified.

"Not if we can help it," Thor corrected. "Can you sound the alarm? We need our people to prepare for battle or evacuation. Get Korg to start leading evacuations to the escape pods. Then go find Banner...Hulk...and see if he can help. I don't know what state he's in, but he'll likely listen to you more than either of us."

Between the three of them, she was the only one he hadn't flung against the floor in a fit of rage. "Yeah, okay. What are you two going to do?"

"We'll find Heimdall," Thor began. He looked to his brother as if to say, _anything to add?_

"We have a plan," Loki said curtly. Maybe it was just the gross fluorescent lighting in this place, but the shadows on his face made him look tired and perhaps even a little miserable. Perhaps there was some backstory here between him and Thanos, but there wasn't time to ask about it now.

They split off in different directions, and Valkyrie seized a giant red lever at the first door she passed. She yanked it down hard and blaring sirens wailed on the ship. A command interface popped up on the screen, and she keyed in a message that would broadcast on all the holo-screens: _We may be under attack. Make your way to the escape pods, or stay and fight, your choice. Long live Asgard!_

It was a bit peppy for her, but perhaps the exclamation point would get the intent across. She had been learning much from her time with Korg, who had been educating her on the proper ways to start a revolution or garner mass support for a cause. He even had a system, called "The Three E Takedown". They stood for Education, Excitement, and Explosions.

Valkyrie really only cared about the last one, but in order to get there, she needed Korg himself. She darted down hallways illuminated with tinted red flashing lights, the sound of alarms blasting her eardrums, until she found him and Miek in the third floor lounge, which had become a temporary armory. It was a tiny, windowless conference room full of a very imaginative range of weapons. She ignored the strange mess of eggs that Miek had emitted all over the floor, and stepped between them until she was face to face with Korg, who was strapping on a giant laser gun.

"Oh, hey," he said in that shockingly mild voice. Even in the midst of an impending war, he sounded like he was just meeting up with her to get drinks. "Want a gun?"

"Don't mind if I do," she said, grabbing two and slipping them into her holsters. She checked to make sure all five of her knives were still in place, and, feeling ready, explained the situation. "Can you lead the people to the escape pods and facilitate evacuation so there isn't a panic? Tell them all to rendezvous on some nearby planet. I don't know what we're close to or what would be best-"

"We can meet on Klyntar," suggested Korg. "It's not far from here, and that's where Miek's from, right, Miek?"

Miek made a series of chopping movements with his scissor limbs. Valkyrie assumed that was a yes.

"Is it habitable?"

"Yeah, yeah, it'll be great! There's a forest, and caves. And more Mieks."

"Okay, cool."

"What do you want us to do when everyone's evacuated?"

She chewed her lip in thought. "You both can choose to either stay and fight with us or meet the Asgardians. Either way you'd be doing us a favor, because we'll need help against Thanos to hold him off, but the evacuees are going to need a leader. I have a feeling we're eventually going to need a universe-sized revolution to stop him. You and Miek seem like the perfect ones to build it up."

Korg's eyes lit up at the word _revolution_ , and he straightened to his full height. "We can do both! You can count on us to fight Thanos, and then after the battle rejoin everyone on Klyntar."

"Good luck," Valkyrie said, lifting a small flask from the inside of her sleeve and uncapping it. "Want some?"

"Nah, we're good. Klyntar has many wonderful breweries, we're gonna hold out for those. You'll see why when you catch up to us. See you around, Scrapper 142. Good luck to you too."

She dipped her head at the throwback to her old name, took a swig, stowed the flask again, and exited the lounge. Korg and Miek followed shortly after and diverged down a different hallway.

Valkyrie darted through the swelling crowd of Asgardians that were now flowing into the halls, and wrestled her way to the engine room, where steam hissed out of vents and loud humming noises could be heard. As she entered through the steel door and wormed her way between bulging pipes and tangles of wires, she noticed a rhythmic clanging. The Hulk must be weightlifting again. The alarms blaring from the corridor were drowned out by the running of the engines down here, so it was not a surprise to see the Hulk had not armed himself for the expected invasion.

"Hey, big guy," she called, finally stepping into view. The Hulk paused in the middle of benching a giant barrel of ship fuel.

"HEY, BIG GIRL."

"We have a big monster you might get to fight, are you up for it?"

"ALL MONSTERS GET SMASH."

"Okay. We're meeting up with everybody, so let's go. Take a good last look, though. We may not be staying." _Or surviving_ , she added mentally.

The Hulk grunted and set down the barrel with such force it cracked the cement floor. This seemed to please him, and he grinned, showing teeth the size of Valkyrie's hands. He lumbered forward without looking back, not the least bit sentimental. Like Valkyrie, he believed better things would be ahead. For him, it was a fight. For her, it was a drink...or ten...at one of those Klyntar breweries.

"FOR SURE SMASH, OR POSSIBLE SMASH?" he asked as they made their way out of the engine room. He looked aggressively around for the source of the alarms, which were still clamouring, and tore the nearest one off the wall with a satisfied huff. It bleated pathetically in his giant hand before he crushed it and sprinkled the remains on the floor in a fine dust.

"Possible smash. We don't want to attack unless they mean us harm."

The Hulk said nothing to this. In their time together on Sakaar, she'd never been sure that he had a complete understanding of the finesse of a battle. He might be strong, but he was also careless. What if he was provoked into attacking Thanos first, when they could have settled whatever the visit prompted with civil words? Valkyrie may have been a warrior, but she had learned to hate needless bloodshed. A memory of her fellow shieldmaidens' lifeless faces flew across her mind in images of steel and white and scarlet. Never again.

Having recently met the Hulk's nerdy alter-ego, she found it stranger and stranger to interact with the green giant she thought she'd known. She'd imagined the Hulk was all there was, and had been shocked to find that someone so mild-mannered and kind could be trapped in there too. Perhaps someday she'd be able to reconcile these two warring existences in her own mind. But ever since Ragnarok, the Hulk refused to yield the reigns to Bruce. This was what she was used to, of course, but things were different now that she knew there was more to him than rage.

"If we get separated," she said as they walked to the landing dock, "meet everyone on the planet Klyntar."

"HULK NO FLY SHIP. HULK ONLY SMASH."

"Just...find a way to get there. Okay?"

"HULK HITCH RIDE."

"There, was that so hard?"

The Hulk huffed, and even though it might have sounded angry, Valkyrie had learned this was his expression of assent. She grinned and quickened her pace.

They approached the landing docks on the lower level, which was where envoys from Thanos' ship would arrive. From the size of that ship, they could probably blow this one to bits with a few well placed shots, so if Thanos wasn't in a bargaining mood, he could just kill them all and be done with it.

Either way, chances of survival were slim. But Valkyries like her were prepared for those odds. That slim chance of survival was what they had been created to defend. And she had no plans of dying today. Not when a pint at a brewery had her name on it.

A large number of Asgardians had gathered outside the massive dock doors, looking armed, angry, and alert. Hulk reliably cleared a path through them to the front, where Korg and Miek stood waiting for them.

"Did _anyone_ evacuate?" Valkyrie hissed as she glanced backward at the masses. "Korg, this is, like, the entire ship."

"No, it is _most_ of the ship; we sent the children and the elders in the escape pods, as you can see."

"Did you convey to them the seriousness of the situation? This could get bad. People will _die_."

Korg held up a ridiculously long ream of paper with signatures scrawled in various colors of ink. "I added another E to The Three E Takedown: Endorsement! Much more effective than printing pamphlets. Everyone who wished to stay signed this waiver acknowledging the risks of facing Thanos. So we're good to go!" Miek clicked his blades in agreement.

Valkyrie put a palm against her forehead. Korg and his paperwork. How did he even survey everyone that quickly? "Our civilization is in jeopardy - Asgard is right here, this is _it_. If they all die, there won't _be_ an Asgard. You're telling me they're all okay with that?"

The ensemble behind her must have heard this, for one man called out from the crowd, "We are Asgard! We live as one, we die as one!"

More people joined in, and a repeating cheer quickly built in volume until the words thundered against the ship walls. Amid the WE ARE ASGARDs, Valkyrie was surprised to feel a small amount of relief to be among her people again. She'd tried so hard to forget who she was on Sakaar, but after years and years, everything she remembered about her home was still there underneath all the pain and grief. Perhaps it had never even been hers to erase.

Heimdall, Thor, and Loki finally emerged through the crowd, dressed in their armor. The loud cheers subsided into respectful quiet as the three of them took their places at the front of the dock doors with Valkyrie and Hulk. Heimdall clutched the Bifrost sword tightly in his hands and said nothing. Loki did not look at anyone, and only stared straight ahead at the sealed doors, the pronged shadow cast by his horned helmet stretching ominously up the wall. Thor held no weapon in his hands, but he was emitting strange crackling sounds and sparkles from his fingers. Valkyrie made sure she stood far enough back to avoid a potentially deadly static shock. She wondered if he was going to address his people as their king, but if the last few days were any indication, Thor didn't seem very interested in formalities or flowery speeches at the moment. So they stayed in anticipatory silence.

This was the worst part about preparing for a fight. The waiting.

For a few minutes, there was a quiet humming of conversation, hushed as if Thanos could hear them even now. Given how much fear he struck into the hearts of Thor and even Loki, Valkyrie wouldn't have been surprised if that was the case. It would be nice to put a face to the name; she found that naming things one was afraid of made them somewhat less intimidating.

To be named, to live, was to have a weakness. And every weakness would yield under the point of a sword. Preferably, Valkyrie's.

It was with this thought that a polite chiming began to sound from the keypad to the right of the doors. The Hulk leered at it, as if willing to smash it as he'd done to the alarm earlier, but Thor got to it first. He examined the message scrolling across the interface.

"They want us to open the dock for landing." He exchanged a glance with Loki. "It's not a request."

No one said a word, but Thor knew what needed to be done. He keyed in the access codes and they heard the whooshing of the external landing deck hatch opening, pausing, then closing. Once pressurization stabilized again, everyone knew it was time.

"Let's go meet our guests," Thor muttered, and tapped the display one more time. With an eerie, shuddering sound, the doors in front of them began to slide apart.


	3. A Toast

**A/N: Hi guys! Sorry it's a little later than I planned, but here's chapter 3. It took a lot longer to write, because I wanted to get everyone's motivations just right. My goal was to make the confrontation with Thanos a bit more twisty, so I hope it lives up to that. Also, as a side note, I'm operating under the idea that Thanos does not know where all the infinity stones are; I felt he found them too easily and quickly in the movie, and want it to be more of a quest for him. That'll play out in chapters to come. :)**

 **Anyway, hope you enjoy, and thanks for reading!**

* * *

 _Reminiscence_

 _Thanos' ship continued to ascend until it towered above where they stood at the window in the captain's quarters. Loki felt his heart rate increase. If ever there was a time to implement the plan, the crown jewel of his long games, it was now. It just came down to what he was going to do when Thanos boarded this ship. He'd have to be convincing, and for the first time, the thought of what he must do gave him qualms. What was the matter with him? Normally he prided himself on his daring impulsivity, but something was different this time._

 _It occurred to him that he was in the strange position of finally having too much to lose._

 _The decision to go with his plan had been far easier to contemplate making before Ragnarok. Before Loki had returned and saved the day. Back when he'd just been a Jotun monster to them, a dead relic to be reenacted only in theater. Back before he'd tasted appreciation from the Asgardians and...liked it._

 _Asgard did not love him yet. But perhaps he could earn their true devotion someday. It wasn't too late to pursue that path, but if he didn't act now, then it would be in a few short minutes. And after whetting his appetite on that kind of glory, he was loath to give it up in the way he knew he should._

 _Since when had he ever_ _cared_ _like this? It was disgusting._

 _He was selfish, sure, that had always been true. But it was always annoying when two of his desires conflicted like this. It made him wonder: which was more important, the need to belong, or the craving for personal revenge? He had to prioritize._

 _What did he truly value more? Was his own precious ego more important than this plan? After all that was done to him, after everything he'd endured, would he really sacrifice the chance to put a knife in Thanos' back to impress a race he did not belong to? Pathetic._

 _He knew he must burn all these bridges. Ahead there were dragons to slay, and he couldn't dodge flames while looking backward._

 _As he told Thor the plan...well, some of the plan...he was struck by an odd thrum of dread and excitement in his chest. He was about to go deeper into the dark, back to the starless abyss of uncertainty. It was the steepest challenge he'd ever faced._

 _He'd been lying low for two years, waiting for this opportunity. Time to put on a show._

* * *

As the doors to the ship dock began to slide open, Valkyrie heard Loki lean over and whisper in Thor's ear. "Listen. I think we should do Get Help."

Thor cracked a smile, but shook his head. "If only."

"You're sure you don't want to take me up on the offer? I'm not going to say it again. When have you ever known _me_ to suggest it?"

"I'm sure. This isn't the right time, as much as I would love that. I want to have a civil discussion and avoid a battle. We've endured far too much trouble already, and we're not exactly well equipped for warfare. I think the universe owes us some good fortune."

"And by the Bifrost, I hope you get it." There was a strange sadness in Loki's words, but nobody had time to dwell on it. The doors were now fully open, and a large array of soldiers stood facing them in a V shape, as if they were posing. Their emissary pods were parked behind them, and everyone noted quickly that the pods were equipped with guns. Loaded guns. Pointed right at the Asgardians.

Well, Valkyrie thought, at least they were honest enough to avoid the pretense of peace.

Korg, of all people, was the first one to say anything.

"All right," he said, scanning the visitors with genuine curiosity. "Which one of you is Thanos?"

Valkyrie had to admit, it was quite a way to make an impression. She had to suppress an amused snort.

"I am," said the purple colossus standing front and center. He sounded irritated, and spoke with a heaviness that implied he was used to being intimidating, and Korg was stealing his thunder.

Based on Thanos' overt entrance and bullish expression, she also imagined Thanos wasn't exactly the brains of the operation, but nevertheless an effective leader. He clearly relied on being the biggest bully around as his main offensive strategy.

"I have come to make a treaty," Thanos said, stalking forward to close the gap between the two sides. He motioned with a massive arm and two of his soldiers came forward, dragging a small, evidently heavy box. "Who speaks for Asgard?" His eyes slid over the crowd, catching on Loki as if expecting him to step forward.

But Thor was the one who walked out, chin up, to face Thanos. "I do."

Thanos flicked an eyebrow, a precise movement that seemed at odds with such a stoic face. "Thor Odinson, we meet at last. Your brother told me all about you."

Loki flinched but said nothing. Thor kept his voice level. "That was a long time ago, and I am a different man."

Thanos gave a rich chuckle at this, and gestured for the soldiers to open the box. It was intricately carved from black stone, and looked rather ominous. "I am sure you are. You've lost quite a lot these past few years. Haven't you?"

Thor said nothing, but watched warily as the soldiers pulled a small bottle and three glasses from the chest. Valkyrie couldn't help but raise her eyebrows. Treaties in Asgardian tradition were sealed with a toast of mead among the representatives of each side. Thanos knew Asgard's customs and was following them. It unsettled her.

"Perhaps rather than lose something more, we can discuss an arrangement where we both benefit with minimum losses," continued Thanos. He took the bottle from one of the soldiers and held it out for Thor's inspection. "Do you know what this is?"

Thor examined it and shook his head mutely.

Thanos gave him an indulgent smile that showed every one of his disconcertingly large teeth. "I didn't think so. This mead is so old it probably was bottled before Odin was born. I came across it in a rather deadly game of poker and have been saving it in my vaults for the perfect occasion, and that day is today."

"If you'd like us to make a treaty, you can't expect us to do it at gunpoint. Lower your weapons," Thor said. The Asgardians, upon hearing this, guiltily lowered their own knives and blunt instruments. The Hulk bent his knees and slumped, trying to blend in with the Asgardians who were half his height. He looked ridiculous.

Thanos twitched his lips as if amused, then held up a hand and the barrels unanimously tilted downward like scolded pets. "Very well."

"What do you want?" interrupted Loki. The sound was guttural and angry. He was so pale Valkyrie could see his veins standing out against his skin like ink.

Thanos' eyes settled on him, and they were dangerously dark. Valkyrie felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up.

"I want what I have always wanted." His eyes didn't leave Loki's face. "The trickster knows."

"Not that." Loki did not move his gaze from Thanos, but shook his head very slightly. "I cannot."

Thanos opened the bottle with a horrible snap; the top of the bottle came off with a cracking noise, and a violent red liquid frothed at the top. Valkyrie had seen her fair share of mead, but never had she seen red mead before. It looked like blood, and even she found herself repulsed.

"I don't believe you," he said, and the soldiers proffered glasses for him to pour the mead into. When all three were filled, he passed a glass to Loki and Thor each, and kept one for himself. Nobody drank just yet; they were waiting to hear the conditions of the treaty.

Valkyrie was anxious to hear them too; she knew never to make a deal before you'd read the fine print. Nervously, she checked to make sure the knife tucked up her sleeve was still there. It was an old habit, a coping mechanism.

"You cannot?" asked Thanos, "Or you will not?"

"I cannot give you what you seek. It does not exist."

"On that," Thanos said, swirling the liquid in his glass, "we must disagree."

"We may not be talking about the same thing," Loki leveled. "I was referring to my loyalty, although, if there's something else you'd prefer-"

"-Can we just be clear about things, please?" Thor interjected. "Enough with the smoke and mirrors and dodging the questions. Thanos, what is your proposal?"

The purple giant raised his left hand, which was encased in a glimmering golden glove. Set into one of the knuckles was a small purple stone, and there were other empty spaces for other jewels to be added. He flexed the fingers, and pointed to one of the empty spaces. "I want the Space Stone. In return, I leave Asgard alive to prosper in all its...mediocrity. How far you have fallen. A shame."

There was a silence. Valkyrie's eyes shot to Heimdall, and the perplexion in his gaze was almost palpable. Why would Thanos think they had the Space Stone? Their planet had been destroyed; if they'd ever had such a thing, it likely was in the vaults during the explosion. It was probably mere ash and stardust now.

But Loki had been in the vaults that day. Perhaps-

She cut her gaze to Loki, who, upon meeting her eyes, lifted one eyebrow in warning as if to say, _Not one word._

Thor didn't seem to have come to this conclusion yet. He regarded Thanos with first shock, then disgust, then pure amusement. "Thanos, Loki is correct. We cannot give you what you seek."

Thanos narrowed his eyes. "I am prepared to take it by force."

By now, Thor looked almost pleased. "You can't take something that is dust. Mist. Gone. The stone is destroyed. We do not have it."

There was a stunned silence, as if Thanos genuinely hadn't expected that response. But then his expression turned sinister.

"If that is the case, Loki's life is forfeit. He promised me the stone years ago, and then escaped like a little rat. Do you remember, little god, what I told you about pain? About what I would do if I found you again? Death will be the last of your experiences, and the best of them, I can promise you. And before you die, you will do three things. First, you will agree to help me acquire the other stones. Second, you will help me kill every Asgardian here. And third, you will kill Thor."

Loki did not waver, he seemed to have been expecting this answer. "Very well," he said. "And what would you do if I said I could get the stone back? If I said I would help you? Would you spare Thor and Asgard?"

Thanos shrugged flippantly. "You've already said that would be impossible. But yes. I would. If that makes you feel better about the death warrant your actions have signed for them."

"Good. Then, if we have our terms, we can drink."

"Terms?" muttered Thor. "What terms?"

Loki stared at Thanos and raised his glass. "The space stone is gone. Since that is the case, my life is forfeit, as is Asgard's and Thor's. I go to serve Thanos to acquire the other stones and then die a very, very painful death. The stipulation is that if I am able to uncover the Space Stone at some point, Asgard and Thor's lives will be spared, and I will still help Thanos get the other stones. Either way the deal goes, he gets me. That's all he really wanted. That's what all this pageantry and toasting is for. Thanos knows how to woo a potential ally. I'm flattered."

There was a very, very long pause as Thanos considered. Finally he grinned and lifted his own glass. "I agree."

Thor opened his mouth to protest - to him, Valkyrie imagined, this was suicide. Loki was gambling the lives of his people and his brother on something that was gone forever. They were sure to lose.

But Valkyrie knew there was hope, saw it confirmed, when Loki gave his brother a discreet glare that they must have exchanged millions of times as children. It was the _shut up and trust me_ look, Valkyrie had exchanged it with her fellow shieldmaidens and recognized it. Thor seemed to understand Loki's meaning, and immediately closed his mouth tight. He raised his mead, and the glasses clinked with a cheery musical tone. Together, the three of them drank, then passed the empty cups to the soldiers. Thanos capped the bottle and it was secured back in the chest.

Behind them, Asgard was growing restless. Shouts of "No!" and "Betrayer!" echoed around the metal walls, and Valkyrie noticed Heimdall was gripping his sword so tight that his knuckles stood out against his skin. She sensed nobody would stay calm for long, but something about this scenario seemed off to her. It seemed almost too easy. Something more was coming, and she hated that feeling.

"Very well, may the Norns strike any of us down if we do not maintain our treaty," Thor said, though he seemed to taste acid with every word. The other two repeated the words in a similar, toneless fashion.

"Loki serves me now," Thanos concluded. "No weaseling out of it this time."

"Indeed." Loki clasped his hands behind his back.

"I'm glad to see you're no longer operating under the pretense that you're a hero. No hero would bargain as you have. Your own brother, an entire race. Sentenced to death."

"I'm not a hero, Thanos. Understand this now, I won't explain it again. I'm the wrench in the gears, the chink in the armor, the crack in the glass. It makes no difference to me whose side I am on. I don't do alliances, you know this. I may have made my past mistakes, from which you and I both suffered. But I assure you I know I can bring you to glory. I'm throwing in with the winning side." He glanced at Thor as he finished, "It's nothing personal."

"Very well. Then let's proceed," Thanos ordered. "Thor and Asgard are to die. Choose who goes first. I assume you have a preference."

"Oh, I do." Loki's voice was silky and cunning. As if he was finally getting to the part in a rehearsed script that was his favorite; the line he was waiting for. "Assuming I can't find the space stone. And I haven't had a chance to look yet."

Thanos' eyes were half-lidded with annoyance. "Would you like thirty seconds, or is a full minute enough to search your empty pockets?"

"What does the space stone look like?" Korg piped up. "We can help you look!"

Clearly this irritated Thanos, because he didn't even dignify this with a response; he only had eyes for Loki. "You told me yourself the stone is gone. Don't waste my time."

"Oh, I wouldn't call this a waste," Loki replied, and with dramatic flourish, he lifted a hand and pulling something blue from thin air. It was a glowing cube, and it lit up Loki's face with an oceanic sheen, as if he was underwater. "Look at that, I've found it after all."

The Asgardians behind Valkyrie shifted nervously, and muttering began to ripple up from the silence. From the look on Thor's face, he hadn't been aware of this part of the plan. If he had known the stone survived, perhaps he would have tried to keep it out of Thanos' hands.

But Thor would never sacrifice his people for it, he'd see the cost as too high, and the stone would have gone to that purple monster anyway. Valkyrie understood Loki's motives; keeping Thor in the dark was a smart move here. If Thanos had to end up with the stone, at least they'd gotten an oath out of him. Thanos couldn't harm them now. This was what had to be done.

She was almost ready to celebrate their triumph - Thor and Asgard would live! - but then she saw the sly smile on Thanos' face. Something was wrong.

"Loki, how I've missed you. You do know how to give us a surprise," Thanos sighed. "I really was hoping you'd have something up your sleeve, and you never disappoint. I prepared for this."

Loki's prideful expression faded slightly, the joy no longer shining out from him. The blue cube pulsed, making his features seem frozen in ice.

"If you have cards remaining, play them, I grow impatient of these games," Thor advised, stepping forward in front of Loki. It was a protective gesture that Loki seemed to both appreciate and resent; he smiled, but took a step forward so he was level with his brother once more.

Thanos put his hands on his hips, relishing the moment. "Loki's not the only one who had a plan tonight. I wanted to see your faces when you thought you'd won. Now then," he said, his voice like a cold knife against skin. "Shall I tell you what I put in the mead?"


	4. Agony

**A/N: Hi everyone! Sorry it's been ages since I last posted! I wrote a play this summer for a competition, and that consumed most of my writing time/energy. But here's the latest chapter for you all, finally. I hope you enjoy it! Fair warning, there will be some violence in this one, but not nearly on the same level as IW. I promise. From here on out, it's gonna get increasingly more silly and less sad, so don't lose hope!**

* * *

"Shall I tell you what I put in the mead?"

The question was followed by a taut silence. Valkyrie forced herself to remain silent, but she felt her adrenaline spike. Something was horribly wrong. What if Thanos had poisoned both the princes? What if they died?

She was sworn to protect the throne, and she might have already failed. Who would lead Asgard if they perished? Surely not her. And the Hulk would make a terrible ruler. Who did that leave? Heimdall? Or would they have to resort to an election? Would there be anyone left if this got bloody?

"Explain. What is this treachery?" thundered Thor. Valkyrie blinked back into focus and searched Loki's face. There was something churning behind his eyes, as if he was recalculating something.

Thanos smiled at Thor. "Don't worry, it won't harm you yet. Allow me to expound, princelings. First of all, don't worry, your people will live; Loki has ensured that by giving me the space stone. However, Thor may not be so lucky. You see, Loki and I have worked together before; I know he requires a bit more of an incentive to stay loyal than sheer good will. I have poisoned one of you with the mead, but the poison is slow acting. My condition is Loki works for me in exchange for the antidote. And, if I find he's performed admirably in the next year, I'll provide it."

Now that Thanos had threatened Thor directly, the Asgardians were stirring with unrest. It wouldn't be long until they rushed at Thanos with knives, but Valkyrie was starting to think evacuation might be a better idea. They'd already been spared, they could still leave to let the matter be settled by those already embroiled in this mess; namely, her, the Hulk, Thor, Loki, and Heimdall himself. Actually, now that she thought about it…She tried to silently get Heimdall's attention, and his golden eyes locked on her almost immediately. While she tried to communicate a plan with just her eyebrows, Thanos kept explaining.

"Incidentally, the antidote is extinct; only I can create it with the fully restored Infinity Gauntlet." He held up his golden glove, where the missing stones were glaringly apparent. "Without it, death is as certain as that tall fool over there is green." At this, the Hulk snorted in disgust, but Thanos just talked over him. "You see, the poison is latent. It will sleep in the bloodstream, waiting, and then, precisely one year after exposure to it, once symptoms manifest-"

"What are the symptoms?" Thor cut in.

"Death," Thanos smirked. "It's fast acting and inarguably lethal. But right up until the moment of death, vitals remain normal. Some call this poison Lightning Strike. Blink, and you'll miss the flash before the light leaves your eyes. You're dead before your heartbeat can thunder out an echo."

Loki, it seemed, was doing a good job of not looking shaken. In fact, righteous anger seemed to be realigning his facial features with slow precision, the way a glacier might carve the ground beneath it over centuries. "This was a good plan," he admitted. "Even I wouldn't trust myself without insurance. But why won't you disclose which of us you poisoned? You could very well be punishing Thor for my sins. I'll gladly die when this is all over, if it's what I deserve, but this is not his game, it's mine alone."

Thanos clasped his gigantic hands together, as if he'd been expecting this. "Yes. About that. The ambiguity leaves the slightest possibility of your loyalty, Loki. I know you have no regard for your own life, but if there was any chance your actions could kill Thor, you could be manipulated."

Loki rolled his eyes dismissively. "What makes you think that? When we last spoke, I told you I hated Thor."

Thor crossed his arms, irritated. "Uh. What?"

Loki shrugged. "It was true."

" _Was_ ," Thanos pointed out. "I've been watching you. What you did during Ragnarok told me all I needed to know."

"You're taking it out of context. Look," he snapped. "You have me, you have the stone. Thor has nothing to do with this, but you pulled him into it anyway. Is all this simply vengeance because I did not seek you out after our failure on Midgard?"

"Oh, not this again…"

Valkyrie and Heimdall were still nonverbally communicating with limited success, but Heimdall at least understood they should make use of the open door behind the Asgardians. He tilted his head to Loki, as if to say, _If Loki distracts Thanos, maybe we can get everyone else out of this mess before those minions catch on._

Heimdall turned slowly on the spot until the Asgardians could see his towering helmet and his serious gaze. At the silent lifting of his chin, the Asgardians in the back of the crowd began to inch their way backward, out of the hangar, and through the open door. Valkyrie assumed they were making for the escape pods. It would be a miracle if everyone made it out, but now seemed like a good time to try.

Her hopes snagged, however, at the thought of the antidote. She didn't want Thor or Loki to die; but if they survived at the cost of Asgard's lives, that price was too steep. Now was the time for their people to retreat. Loki was buying them time.

As the Asgardians slowly receded, Loki continued, holding Thanos' gaze. "I thought you vanquished, as embarrassed as I am to admit it. I assumed with the Chitauri gone and the Mind stone lost on Midgard, you might have cut your losses and gone to vacation among the space beaches. Forgive me, it's what I would have done in your place, and I am simply terrible about putting myself in other people's shoes."

Thanos waved an annoyed hand. "Excuses, little prince, are just indulgent lies."

"Are you still angry about _this_?" Loki waved the space stone in front of him, and it made his eyes glitter. "I could have destroyed the Space Stone. But I didn't. I dared not ruin it, in case we ever did cross paths. I wanted to make it a gift, to make my transgressions up to you, should that opportunity ever present itself. I guarded it, masqueraded as Odin to keep Asgard from worrying about the fact that it was back in the vaults, dared never use it, and now I have been rewarded for my patience. I hoped you'd see it that way, but apparently not. Your poisoning was a cheap trick, especially," he finished, making the space stone vanish into midair, "when I already have what you want."

Thanos' mask of controlled dominion slipped for the first time. "Give it to me."

"Make me. What are you going to do? Poison me?"

"I can hurt him," Thanos said, pointing at Thor with the Infinity Gauntlet.

"Nice try," Loki grinned. "But Thor can defend himself, and unless your minions have more than weapons on their side, you're out of tricks. I, however, have something more up my sleeve."

Then, he vanished. It took Valkyrie a moment to locate him again, but when she did, she couldn't hide the look of surprise on her face. Loki was standing behind Thanos now, holding something that looked like a rectangular ice-blue crate. But he didn't look quite like himself; for one thing, he was blue. He looked…like a Frost Giant. And then, Valkyrie understood – Loki _was_ a Frost Giant. And that was the famed Casket of Ancient Winters.

Valkyrie had only heard stories about the Casket in her time as a shieldmaiden; of its famed power, its ruthless ice, and the fact that only Frost Giants could survive wielding it. The fact that Loki himself was able to was...self-explanatory. She just couldn't believe it was true, although in hindsight it explained a lot of Loki's motivations. On Sakaar, he'd been eager to distance himself from the classification as an Asgardian, preferring to be known as a nomad.

Valkyrie wondered if revealing his heritage to all of Asgard had always been part of his plan. She questioned whether or not it was wise, although, as elements of surprise went, it was, admittedly, a spectacular idea. No one had seen this coming, not even Thor. Tendrils of fog snaked out of the crate as Loki hefted it, and he was smiling widely. "Come, Thanos. I think you should try to…chill out."

Before Thanos could even turn around to see what was happening, a jet of frigid air shot from the Casket, completely immobilizing him in a thick layer of ice. Loki didn't stop until he was sure Thanos wasn't able to escape, then turned the Casket on the soldiers, who had begun to fire the weapons. Bullets froze in midair, and soon Thanos' army was trapped and silenced.

"And, I think that's everyone." Loki moved his hands in a graceful swirling motion and the Casket disappeared into nothingness. He dusted off his hands and approached Thanos, inspecting his handiwork. His skin was slowly returning to its usual shade, his eyes fading back to normal from their dull red. "This won't last forever, but it should give Asgard enough time to escape. We must move quickly."

A few proactive Asgardians immediately rushed forward to the frozen soldiers, and began taking all the ammunition out of the blaster guns. Having to reload them when the minions melted would buy them a little extra time, and they'd need every minute.

Valkyrie brushed some snow from her hair and dusted ice crystals from her clothes. Frost had collected on her gauntlets in intricate lacy patterns, and she blew a warm breath over the leather to melt them away.

Thor surveyed Loki, looking nonplussed and slightly impressed. "I see now why you didn't include me in this plan. I never would have agreed to it. I don't even think I've ever seen you...like that before. But I must say, blue really is your color."

Even Loki couldn't conceal his amused snort.

"You know," Heimdall chimed in, pointing at the Thanos popsicle, "That is a lot funnier when it isn't happening to me."

Given the drama that had just unfolded, the remaining Asgardians seemed to have faltered in their evacuation and were looking on curiously, but Korg took responsibility for ushering them ahead. "To the escape pods! Go! We don't know how long it'll take for him to melt," he cried, and Miek punctuated this with a few good natured slashes. There was a rush as everyone began to exit.

"Korg!" Valkyrie shouted over the rising din. "Meet us on Klyntar! Like we planned! If something happens and we don't show up-"

"-then go to Midgard," finished Thor. "The Avengers will help you."

Korg nodded, and he and Miek exited with the Asgardians out of the hangar. Even after their footsteps had faded to soundless egress, there were still a substantial number of Asgardians who had stayed, willing to fight. Heimdall was eyeing them warily, as if worried they'd made a mistake.

Loki stalked over to him, as if reading his mind. "The escape pods won't be fast enough and you know it. He's already melting."

Sure enough, the ice around the top of Thanos' head was receding, and a pool of water had formed on the floor. The smaller minions were also in various stages of thaw. They had mere minutes before angry enemies descended upon them once more.

Thor added, "Whoever hasn't already left - using the stone is their only chance to get out. Once Thanos escapes his bonds, there will be no more civility, and he already has the power stone." He turned to the remaining Asgardians. "This is not your battle, it is ours, and it will be a short one. We must protect you by sending you away. In case Thanos gets any ideas about neighboring planets, we shouldn't place all our people together until it is safe. We must divide you up. I vote we send whoever yet remains _directly_ to Midgard. Loki can use the stone for this purpose."

"Can't he just zap him again with the ice?" asked an impertinent Asgardian with a long, dark braid.

Loki rolled his eyes. "It's a powerful object, but it's limited. I can't use it too much, or the icy fire within will die. Once Thanos melts, we're out of options. The ah...gloves...will come off, so to speak."

Heimdall agreed. "Now that Thanos has been provoked, any hope of nonviolent negotiation is finished; it'll get bloody this time and we can't afford to lose anyone more. I strongly suggest every remaining Asgardian leave for Midgard. Now."

"Very well," sighed a woman in the front of the group, sheathing her sword. "I don't like leaving, but if Heimdall thinks it's what's best to ensure we don't face extinction for the second time this year, I will follow your orders. I trust his judgement."

Heimdall's approval triggered mutterings of assent filled the hangar amid the tiny dripping noises from the ice behind them. Loki conjured the space stone again in his palm, and readied himself to use it. "Everyone get into one big group." The Asgardians who had unloaded the weapons raced forward to join their companions. Valkyrie hesitated, and so did the Hulk.

"Uh, guys?" she said. "What about the Hulk? Should we send him back to Midgard? Or do we need him to fight?"

Thor frowned. "This may be his only chance to return home."

The Hulk punched his fist into the wall, leaving a huge dent in the metal. "NO, HULK STAY WITH FRIENDS."

Valkyrie stepped forward, her hands placating. "Go home, you're going to regret it if you don't."

"HULK STAY WITH FRIENDS."

Loki sighed. "We're wasting time here."

"ICE MAN FRIEND."

"That's very sweet, after all we've been through together," Loki growled, "but Thanos is going to melt any second and you really need to go."

"FINE. HULK GO IF SHE GOES." The Hulk pointed to Valkyrie, who shook her head violently.

"I can't, I'm staying, my duty lies with the throne, you know that."

The Hulk was about to protest when a horrible shattering noise sounded from behind them. As everyone turned to the source of the disturbance, they realized Thanos had broken his arms free of the ice and was clawing at the ice surrounding his face. The minions behind him were in similar states of awakening discomfort. Valkyrie's escalated pulse began to whine in her ears at the sight.

"Okay, time's up!" Thor shouted. "Everybody go! Now!"

As Loki fired up the space stone, a jet of blinding white light emitted from it, encompassing the group of Asgardians. But at the last moment, the Hulk dodged out of the way, and ran to where Thanos was rooted to the spot, ready to be the first line of defense. For as irascible as he was, Valkyrie was suddenly very grateful that the first thing Thanos would have to deal with was the Hulk, and not the undefended backs of Asgard's leaders. She drew her daggers from her gauntlets and admired the reflected light from the space stone in the sharp edges.

There was a crash, and Hulk bellowed, soaring backward into the wall hard enough to shake the floor. Thanos was clearly ready for a fight, but the space stone hadn't finished the job. The Asgardians were gone, but Heimdall remained. Loki seemed to be faltering; the space stone light was flickering. Was he...scared?

But no; in an instant, the light flickered back into a steady stream, and Heimdall vanished. Valkyrie hoped that despite the spotty connection, he still ended up in the same place as everyone else. From the expression on Loki's face, he was thinking the same.

There was a flash of purple, and the ground below their feet rippled. Valkyrie fell to her knees and braced her palms against the gritty tile floor. She had never been in the presence of one infinity stone before, let alone two, but she was beginning to recognize what it felt like to be around one that was in use. The power stone sent shockwaves through the air, and she felt sick to her stomach.

"Enough!" bellowed Thanos. His feet were still encased in ice all the way up to his knees, but he had enough range of motion to convey how furious he was. He also, unfortunately, had full access to his gauntlet again. "You will all perish! I wish I'd poisoned both those cups! I anticipate your deaths; especially yours, Loki. Once you've served your purpose, you can die in pain, begging for release. And only when you are out of eloquent ways of requesting your death; when the vocabulary you use to describe your suffering is wholly spent, _only_ then will I finally take your life. If the poison doesn't beat me to that final punch, and you'd better _hope_ I poisoned you."

"Brave words," Loki said, turning to face Thanos with a flip of his hair. "Although I think you stole that threat from me. It's wrong to plagiarize, especially on the brink of war. Because if you thought I was insulted before, imagine how I feel now."

Electricity began to flicker at Thor's fingertips, and there was a crunch of metal behind them as the sounds of Hulk regaining his footing echoed through the vastly emptier room. Valkyrie sensed danger ahead, and gripped her knives tighter.

Thanos raised his arm, displaying the gauntlet proudly. "Enough talk! My soldiers - prepare to fire!"

This would have been far more imposing if he hadn't been rooted to the spot with ice. Nevertheless, the soldiers readied the guns and blasters. Everyone who was facing the firing squad smiled.

"Fire!" Thanos cried.

Nothing happened. After a stunned, embarrassed moment, the soldiers abandoned the empty weapons and charged, pulling swords and blunt objects out of their sheaths. There were only eight of the hulking brutes; and given the combined skills of Valkyrie, Thor, Loki, and the Hulk, they would have a relatively fair fight. In fact, as the warring sides clashed, and Valkyrie immediately drove her blades into one of the minions in an effortless kill stroke, she thought they might win.

But that was before Thanos used the power stone, and the air itself ignited with microscopic flames. The pain affected everyone, even his minions, but no one stopped fighting. Even as Valkyrie dodged blows from a gigantic club one of the fighters was swinging, she felt the embers digging into her skin, singeing the roots of her hair, infiltrating her vulnerable lungs with every breath. She heard the Hulk scream in outrage, and send a soldier flying across the room to land on the floor with a sickening crack. Loki and Thor were choking quietly, sweat beading their brows, but neither relented in their ruthless defense. Thor was battling three soldiers at once with intermittent showers of lighting sparks, and Loki was batting one while simultaneously deflecting pulses from the power stone with small bursts of magical shielding.

The Hulk advanced on the still partly-frozen Thanos, his bulletproof skin seemingly unaffected by the power stone's fire. His bellicose temper, on the other hand, had ignited in rage. It mottled his green face, and Valkyrie hoped that purple monster was as scared as he should be. As the Hulk took Thanos on completely, Loki vanquished his last opponents; one with a slash of a dagger, and the other with a well placed kick to the chest. Valkyrie wiped blood from her forehead. One of the soldiers must have grazed her with a knife. She'd hardly even felt it.

She did, however, feel an icy hand grip her arm and pull her away from the fray until she was pressed against the far right wall, hidden behind a now-smoking electricity console.

"Ow, hey, what-" she protested, twirling the knife in her right hand into stabbing position. Before she could deal a blow, however, the hand released her. She spun to face Loki, but even when she saw who it was, she didn't lower the knife. _Don't get familiar._

After he had invaded her memories the last time they were in close proximity, she'd avoided his touch at all costs. She even stood back so she could get some more wielding room, and pointed the knife at his throat, her mouth set in a fine line. But his eyes didn't light up in fear or betrayal. His only reaction was to knit his eyebrows in concentration. She thought back to their skirmish on Sakaar; he'd given her the same expression then. At the time, she'd imagined it was one of anger and defiance, but now she saw some exhaustion underneath it all. Unless she was imagining it. It was hard to tell sometimes with him; for as emotive as his expressions were, they never revealed the full scope of his thoughts. And, for another matter, there was a thick layer of battle grime on his face.

He spoke without preamble, though he was slightly out of breath. "I'm staying with Thanos. You and the Hulk and Thor need to escape. Now." It wasn't a question or a joke. There was no time to argue with him, so Valkyrie just nodded. "I have to remain with him; I need to get the antidote. But Thanos must not get all the stones. He must not. I know what he plans to do with them-"

"Which is?"

"He means to rewrite reality; to reduce the population of every race by half, to acquire a universe that is so broken with loss that they will be easy to rule. There's a reason Thanos obtained the Power Stone first; power is his endgame, and that will be in the form of ruling a universe if we don't stop him. But he lacks wit, which I have in abundance, and I will do my best to ensure he does not succeed. However, I need help in defeating him. I need you."

There was a roll of thunder, and a few flashes of Thor's lightning lit up the shadows in their corner.

"But," Valkyrie frowned, "Why can't you just chop off his arm and take the gauntlet?"

"Won't work, he doesn't need the gauntlet to use the stones individually; plus, we need the antidote. Here, I have a plan." Loki put his palm face up, and the space stone in its cube materialized upon it. He offered it to her in one fluid movement, eyes scanning the area behind her in case they were being watched. "Take this with you. Escape in the Commodore. Get as far away from here as you possibly can, and keep this stone hidden. I have a duplicate I'll present to Thanos; but he must not find the real one."

Valkyrie finally lowered her arm, sheathing one of the knives, and took it in her hand. Loki flicked a corner of the cube, and the shell dissolved into dust, leaving a small, glowing stone in its place. It was surprisingly warm to the touch, as if it had been left out in the sun. "You're sure?"

"I'm sure." Loki pressed his lips down as if keeping himself from saying any more. "When we get back out there, the three of you run. I'm going to distract Thanos."

Without giving Valkyrie any time to protest, he spun on his heel and walked away. Valkyrie shrugged, pocketed the stone carefully, and followed. When she entered back into the melee, she realized she'd been talking to a duplicate Loki. The real one was currently helping Thor wrestle one of the minions to the floor, while the Hulk and Thanos battled in the background.

Bodies lay strewn on the ground in pools of blood diluted pink by the melting ice. Valkyrie counted six soldiers dead, and the seventh heading that way if Thor and Loki had anything to say about it.

But weren't there eight?

And that was when she realized they weren't winning after all. But before she could shout a warning, she saw the eighth soldier reach the door to the hangar, smiling with all his pointed teeth. She saw him reach up with one six-fingered hand, and slam the button labeled EVACUATE AIRLOCK.

Red lights and sirens erupted around the room. A friendly woman's voice announced over the speakers, " _PLEASE EXIT THE DOCKS NOW. AIR EVACUATION INTO UNPRESSURIZED SPACE WILL COMMENCE IN TWENTY SECONDS. NINETEEN. EIGHTEEN-"_

With that, chaos descended. Loki sent a knife straight at the soldier, who fell as soon as it sank in his chest. "Run!" Thor bellowed.

Thanos, who was finally able to move his feet out of their frozen trap, merely began to laugh and pressed a button on his armor. A transparent bubble for internal life support systems materialized over his head. And there died Valkyrie's hopes that Thanos would die here today. He might be the only one that survived this after all. It figured.

"I'm staying," Loki shouted over the din. "I'm his servant now. Go on! Get out of here!"

"Not without you!" Thor slashed his hand through the air emphatically. "Never again!"

"Thor, you fool, you're the king, you have to live! You have to!"

"Not. Without. You."

Valkyrie frowned, puzzled. This seemed like an oddly kind interaction between the brothers; all she'd seen them do was act like they hate each other. Although, she admitted, even when they were being brotherly, they still argued. _That_ at least made sense. In fact, the arguing probably would have continued, but Thanos interrupted them by making a gesture with the gauntlet that shattered the moment completely.

A jet of purple light from the power stone soared straight at Thor, hitting him in the chest. He crumpled like a ragdoll.

"NO!" The Hulk roared.

"No!" Valkyrie echoed, and before she registered what she was doing, she'd already let one of her daggers fly. It bounced pointlessly off Thanos' head bubble and he laughed like she'd just told a funny joke.

Loki raced to Thor's side, but before he could make it there, Thanos shot another pulse, which hit him in the back. He collapsed, unconscious.

Thanos scoffed casually, his eyes fixing on Valkyrie at last. "Loki's _almost_ more trouble than he's worth. Almost. At least he's manageable when he's out cold. I'll have a few hours of peace before he comes to. Now...as for you, pretty one..."

" _SEVEN. SIX. FIVE."_

Valkyrie, though aware of Thanos' attention now fixed on her, didn't care. She started to run to where Thor lay anyway, but was intercepted by the Hulk. He whisked her off the ground and lifted her into an over-the-shoulder carry before she could so much as shriek in surprise. As she punched his back and kicked out uselessly, he ran for the doors, and she was left with only a clear view of what they were leaving behind. The two fallen princes, and the victorious villain.

This wasn't how things were supposed to go.

"No, no!" Her voice was getting hoarse from all the screaming. "Hulk, turn around! We have to get Thor! We have to take him with us! We have to get everyone to the Commodore and escape!"

"HULK PROTECT _YOU_!"

"I don't care what happens to me! Turn around right now!"

"NO! WE GET TO COMMODORE. GET SHIP. GET SAFE."

They cleared the doorway, and Valkyrie continued to fight his grip, but to no avail. She watched the figures in the hangar get smaller and smaller, until she saw the airlock doors open into the abyss of space. She watched as Thanos grabbed Loki as they soared away, probably to reunite with another emissary pod that would bring them to safety.

She saw the lone body of Thor, abandoned, fall into the gaping maw of darkness.

As the Hulk finally ascended the steps to the rooftop dock where the Commodore waited, she felt the urge to fight leave her, felt the song of blood in her ears lessen. And she cried.


	5. Adrift

**A/N: Hi! Sorry it's been so long between posts; life got a bit hectic, but it's good to finally be back. Hope you enjoy this latest chapter, and as always, thanks for reading! From here on out it's going to get a lot more cracky and fun, so hang in there :). Until next time!**

* * *

 _Reminiscence_

" _If something happens to you, we need a contingency plan. And we need a Loki plan," Heimdall declared. He paced in front of Thor in the Captain's quarters, clutching his sword tightly. He was counting down the moments before the emissary ship from Thanos reached them. The disappointed creases on his forehead told Thor he had hoped to use the night to continue coaching the new king, but it seemed likely this would be their last chance to talk for a while._

 _Thor sighed, touching his eyepatch absently. He still wasn't used to wearing it yet. "A Loki plan? Why? We can't plan that, he's too unpredictable. But you and I both know Loki is a survivor, and one does not become so by wallowing. He won't grieve for me, he'll move on because he'll have to."_

" _You underestimate how your death might affect him, Thor. If you die, I doubt he will want to carry on long without you, whatever he may or may not admit. He might seek a swift death, either because he loves you or because he will think your fate is his fault."_

 _Thor scoffed. "Loki will not seek out death. He will make the most of his time, perhaps by taking up the throne, though he confessed to me he never actually wanted it. He only wanted to be my equal."_

" _And would death not accomplish that great equalizing goal?" Heimdall's eyes were burning now, the way he did when he was enjoying playing the devil's advocate._

" _Not in the way he would value."_

" _And if you both do live?"_

" _His pursuits will lead him back to us in the end. Loki always comes back, whether we want him to or not."_

" _I hope you are right."_

" _We cannot hope, Heimdall. It seems we can only plan."_

* * *

Tears were annoying. They got in the way, they ruined the ability to breathe through one's nose, and they limited the ability to see. Valkyrie brushed the wetness from her eyelashes and sat up. She was on the cold tile floor of the Commodore, still where the Hulk had discarded her in order to prepare the ship for takeoff. In the distance, alarms blared as if in slow motion, and explosions sounded as Thanos' departing ship sent some discharges into the main ship's hull for good measure. _How nice of him to leave us a gift on his way out_ , she thought darkly.

Sure enough, smoke began to fill the port from the direction they'd come. Valkyrie coughed as she inhaled some.

"Hulk, we need to get airborne before any of the spreading damage reaches the Commodore. Can you hurry it up and close that door?"

She stood up and wiped more tears from her face, irritated that they wouldn't stop flowing. Perhaps it was just the smoke, but the constantly replaying memory of Thor drifting into space, alone, to die, did not help matters.

She turned her head to see the Hulk in the cockpit of the Commodore, obediently pulling levers, but definitely not the right ones. She'd forgotten he barely knew how to fly this ship. She was going to offer to help him, but at that moment, the Hulk angrily slammed his hand over a button, and there was a jubilant screeching noise. The ship's entrance hatch finally closed, and they lifted off from the dock. As with anything, the Hulk got there eventually.

As they soared upward and the in-flight blinking red lights came on, the hull was lit with an eerie glow. Valkyrie noticed the Hulk filled so much of the space that everything looked comically tiny in contrast. He couldn't even sit down. This did not bode well if she was to be spending the foreseeable future locked in here with him. They'd get stir crazy too fast and then the claustrophobia would set in. Nevertheless, she didn't have another option.

The ship tilted suddenly beneath her feet, flying crooked without a steady hand to guide it smoothly into unobstructed flight space. She figured it would be best to belt herself into the nearest seat behind the the Hulk. As she did so, she experienced a brief déjà vu moment - she was about to go to Asgard again, gearing up to fight Hela at last. But then there was another jolt as the Hulk grabbed the steering control and made a clumsy and rapid ascent. Valkyrie was sent right back to the nauseating present, where the Asgardians had fled for shelter, Thor was dead, and Loki was in the hands of Thanos.

It would be easy to believe all was lost, but a thought - a time critical thought - occurred to her in that moment. Valkyrie gasped and leaned forward in her seat. She grabbed the Hulk's shoulder and he grunted.

"NOT GOING BACK."

"Hulk, we have to fly past the hangar site; we have to find Thor if he's still…"

"NOT SAFE."

"We _have_ to, he's our king!"

The Hulk looked like he was going to argue; his jaw jutted obstinately.

Valkyrie unbuckled and stood, as if the extra height would do any good against his Goliath stature. "Every second Thor spends outside in space means he's one more second closer to death. I Need You To Find Him Now! I _need_ you-" she gasped, her voice scraping upward in volume and pitch, but she broke off when she realized her words had a strange effect on the Hulk.

He straightened to his full height as if shocked, and smacked his skull against the overhead controls. The ship began to spiral, and Valkyrie had to dash forward to hastily correct the trajectory with a few jabs at buttons while the Hulk stumbled backward. When she turned around, he'd staggered to the back of the ship, muttering to himself as if carrying a full conversation inside his head. This didn't make any sense to her until he started shrinking. It was rather gruesome, so she tried not to look, but curiosity overcame her.

Wincing, she watched as the Hulk cowered backward against the far wall. By this time, he was no longer green, but his face still bore the slightest remnants of rage. Within seconds, those faded too, leaving the exhausted and perplexed face of Bruce Banner staring up from the floor at her.

"What's-" he began, but she raised a palm at him to shut him up. This was an unexpected development but it would work in her favor. Maybe she could save Thor after all.

"Not now. Put some clothes on, and then look out the window. We have to find Thor. I'll explain later."

There wasn't time to give an explanation right now, or to discuss Banner's situation. She brushed her fingers under her eyes one last time, inhaled deeply, and sat back down at the pilot console. She steered straight for the ship, zooming downward until they were level with the fateful hangar where everything had gone awry. She scoured the darkness and rubble for signs of life. Sparks bounced off the side of the ship where Thanos' shots had been fired; they flared silently before fizzling out. By this time, Thanos' ship was long gone.

There were shuffling noises behind her, and then Banner, now clothed in a frankly atrocious hodgepodge of old clothes that might have been Loki's or Thor's, approached. "Wait. We're looking for Thor? Here? Did something bad happen?"

Valkyrie didn't answer his questions, deciding to turn her eyes back to the window. "Just tell me if you see him. We don't have time to waste here."

She drove the ship on through a floating wasteland of metal bits and cosmic dust. It was like flying through a space graveyard; silent, mysterious, and emotionally dark. Bruce didn't utter a single word, but his face grew steadily more gray, and he eventually sat down in the other pilot's chair, his hands shaking.

Valkyrie flew three laps around the ship, convinced that _this time they'd find him and this time he'd be there and this time they'd find him and he'd be all right._

There was no trace of the king. Maybe...he had been rescued? But that wasn't possible, nobody else was out here. Perhaps he'd been caught in one of the explosions? Valkyrie closed her eyes for a moment, wishing she hadn't visualized that. _One more search_ , she thought, and her eyes popped open.

She slowly flew around the area again - fourth time's the charm. But no luck.

It was such a crushing disappointment that before she could stop herself, she screamed in frustration and gave up the controls. The ship plunged unassumingly downward into the black starry void. The plunge was aimless and uncaring. No alarms were triggered, but the red interior lights started flashing, as if the ship was annoyed at the way it was being handled.

When she turned in her seat, she found Bruce huddled in his chair, hands on his head.

"What?" she demanded, fully aware her face was covered in tears again. " _What_?"

"Are you going to explain what's going on here? From what I gather, this is really bad. Where is everyone? Did we save Asgard?"

Each question was a dagger thrust into her chest. She didn't want to be the one to tell him everything. But it was just the two of them now, and Valkyries were taught to team up. Not that she would tell Thor or Loki that, but they likely knew from their lessons on Valkyries. No wonder Thor had been so eager to form their Revengers group back on Sakaar.

Grudgingly, she explained the horrors they'd just escaped, ending with, "And now Thor is probably dead, unless some magical good Samaritan happened to find him in the short time it took us to get here. And that's about as likely as a raccoon flying a spaceship."

Banner's stricken face was enough to tell her he was desperately clinging to hope. "Could someone have rescued him?"

Even though she'd had the same thought earlier, and the hope rose again in her chest, she quashed it. "I learned long ago not to hope for things like that; it makes grief so much worse when it inevitably comes." The sentence fell like a lead weight between them; heavy and ugly.

Bruce started to hyperventilate. "Okay," he managed, though it was clear he was anything but.

"What's wrong?" she asked. "I know you're upset...but like...is this space sickness? I mean...you've been on a spaceship before."

"Not in open space. Not that I remember. This is different. The size of it makes everything feel like it's pressing in and I can't breathe and it's so dark and Thor is dead-"

"Are you going to Hulk out?"

"No, I'm just...freaking out. The Hulk is more the angry type. I'm in control, I just am...I need to lie down for a minute."

"Okay. I'm going to get us out of this area and find somewhere safe to land and get supplies. I'm going to route the controls to fly us to the nearest planet. In the meantime, try to breathe. And drink this," she added as an afterthought. She got up and handed him one of her flasks.

Having left it in his capable hands, she walked back to the cockpit again, but remained standing this time. She did a quick signs of life analysis on the panel and groaned inwardly. "Hey, Banner, I don't think Klyntar's gonna be an option anymore. Signs of life are sub-fifty."

Banner took a while to answer, and when she turned around he'd propped his feet up on the wall to let blood rush back into his head - as good a way as any not to pass out, even if he looked ridiculous. "What?" he asked quietly, putting his hands over his eyes.

"It means there's been some sort of extinction event. Less than or equal to fifty percent of the population remains. We don't want to find out. Unfortunately, Korg and Miek took some surviving Asgardians there. I hope they don't meet anything too nasty, but it's too late to do anything about that now. We have to get somewhere populated, and somewhere with a giant bank vault."

"Bank vault?" Banner asked, but he sounded distracted and out of it.

Valkyrie felt in her pocket and brought out the space stone. She held it in her gloved palm, mimicking Loki's gesture from earlier. As she'd observed from watching him, she was also careful not to let it touch her skin. She turned over her shoulder so he could see it, and Banner stared at it blankly.

"That's a rock." Of his many academic certifications, which Thor had spoken highly of, was one of them not geology? Perhaps he was still too frazzled to care about details.

"A dangerous rock. We have to make sure Thanos never gets it."

"If it's dangerous, how did we get it?"

"Thank Thor and Loki. If we ever see them again."

Banner said nothing, just continued to breathe.

Valkyrie pocketed the stone again, making sure to fasten every compartment possible to prevent losing it. She then set coordinates to Kral X, their best option in the Andromeda Galaxy. If they wanted to hop galaxies, they'd need fuel first. And more alcohol.

When she finished, she straightened and spun on her heels to face Banner. She leaned against the cockpit doorway, feeling a sudden need to change the conversation away from the darker turn it had taken a moment ago. Maybe it would pull him out of his panic. "Anyway," she prompted, lamely. He didn't react.

She cleared her throat awkwardly. "So are you going to explain why you were the Hulk a few minutes ago but aren't now?"

He shrugged, as much as one can while lying feet-up on a spaceship floor. He was still trembling, though some of the color had come back into his face.

"I don't know," he said. "There isn't like a set thing that works anymore. The Hulk and I haven't been...haven't been coexisting well lately. I haven't been able to control the shift in a long time. When I was on Sakaar, Thor told me I'd been the Hulk for two years. Do you have any idea how terrifying that is to hear? I didn't even remember it. I don't remember anything this time either."

"That's probably better. You don't have to constantly see Thor's last facial expression in your memory." So much for avoiding dark subjects. Valkyrie walked to the back of the ship, and rummaged around in the cupboards. Having found a full bottle, she twisted the cap off viciously, and downed it in three gulps.

This would help.

She let the bottle fall, and the shattering made a satisfying noise. She noticed Banner flinch, and didn't apologize. Instead, she went to sit beside him on the floor and began to clean off her knives, wiping each one on the leg of her pants. The ship was silent for a while, save the roar of the engine, and neither of them really knew what to say. This was certainly a situation neither had planned to be in.

After some time, when Banner finally seemed to recover himself, he peeled himself off the floor and leaned against the wall beside her. There was a sheen of sweat on his forehead. He took a long swig from her flask and handed it back. "Thanks," was all he said.

"Don't mention it," she replied. She took a sip of her own as she looked out at the passing stars. In the sudden, abrupt peace and purposeful exodus from danger, she felt herself sinking into a lull, and let the wave of oblivion wash over her at last.


	6. Apart

**A/N: Hi everyone! Here's another chapter for you; hopefully the wackier part of this fic finally starts to show a bit. If you've seen Ragnarok and are aware of Matt Damon's role in it, this one should be pretty fun for you (I hope). Also, quick disclaimer, I mention Symbiotes in this chapter, but they have No Relation to Venom. They are the inhabitants of the planet, and just inconveniently share the same name. But anyway.** **Thanks for reading, as always! Enjoy.**

* * *

 _Elsewhere_

Thor opened his eyes to a blistering light. It was so bright that for a moment he thought he must be in Valhalla. But once his eyes adjusted, he realized that couldn't be true, because standing over him were a Zehoberei woman and some kind of fuzzy animal. Perhaps a rabbit. The green woman was staring at him with a mixture of fear and disgust. The rabbit was looking at him like he'd just murdered its family.

This definitely wasn't Valhalla.

Confirmation of this fact also came from the pain that pounced on him when he tried to move. He groaned, feeling as if he'd been flayed, frozen, and then left out in the sulfurous fires of Muspelheim to defrost. What had happened? A fretful pressure descended on his chest. Where was Loki? Was he alive?

A third face came into view, this time a soft-featured one with prominent antennae. "You never said he was cute," she said to the rabbit. A finger poked at his arm, examining the muscle.

"Don't get attached, he's not staying," said the green woman. "He's lucky he isn't dead. Once he's better we're booting him off on the nearest planet."

"Who are you guys-" Thor rasped, but before he could finish, the rabbit raised a gigantic, heavy-looking wrench.

"None of your business," it snarled, and swung.

Thor had enough time to think, "A talking rab-" before the wrench connected with his head and everything went dark again.

* * *

 _Concurrently_

Loki woke to find himself propped against a wall, barred in as though in a dungeon. For a wild moment, he assumed this was Hel, or perhaps Valhalla, if he dared to hope for the impossible. Then he figured it was wherever frost giants might go when their souls were separated from their bodies. He thought there would be more ice.

But judging by the face of Thanos glowering at him from the other side of the bars, being dead was too much to hope for. He was merely imprisoned. After a moment, his brain caught up to his observations, and the circumstances from the previous day came back to him. The events dropped into his mind like dye into water, coloring in the gruesome details of death and destruction. His thoughts had a moment to drift to Thor.

And then he remembered. Thor was dead.

* * *

Korg and Miek landed on Klyntar with a jolt. The Asgardians seeking refuge with them gripped each other for support as the small pod ship scraped across the rocky forest landscape, stopping just shy of a tree that would otherwise have bisected the ship's flimsy hull. These ships were not made to sustain long journeys or cross-country forest exploration.

Three other escape pods followed suit, landing in a small outcropping in the midst of tall trees. With a smooth, breezy rush of air, the pods adjusted vitals support to the planet's climate. There was a suspenseful pause afterward, and then the doors to all four pods slid open, allowing everyone to exit. The elderly and the children of Asgard, along with a few of the later evacuees who'd actually seen Thanos, all pooled together into a reunion, sharing distraught hugs under the cool, humid shade of the forest.

Miek was the first one to notice something was wrong. This was not the planet he remembered. There were trees, but not as many as there had once been. There was a sky too, but it was not as pink as it should have been. There were no other Symbiotes like himself hanging from the trees, waving their metal blades in warm welcome. Someone had reached this planet first. Perhaps they had conquered it. Perhaps they had killed it.

Of course, Miek did not communicate any of this to the rest of the group. For one thing, he was the kind to avoid hasty panic; perhaps there was a perfectly good explanation for these planetary changes. And for another thing, he could only communicate with slicing gestures. Nobody would have been able to understand him anyway.

He and Korg surveyed the area; noting a collection of small buildings beyond the trees. A short walk to them revealed hastily abandoned workshops; Korg peered through a window and noticed neat stacks of paper beside a now-dead machine. The evidence was obvious, but it was one of the Asgardians who actually pointed out, "Hey, isn't this a paper mill?"

"Yeah, I think it is," said another.

"Symbiotes know how to make paper? Who knew?" remarked a third.

Miek knew.

"But why make all that paper and just abandon it?" said the first.

"Something must have happened to them. Do you think the planet was conquered? I don't see anyone else around," an elderly Asgardian piped up. "Thanos' ship was coming from that direction; maybe he got here first and-"

Miek made a slicing gesture. _Shut up!_ He didn't want to hear it spoken aloud, even if all evidence pointed that way.

"-killed everyone?" the elder finished. "Maybe. That guy has a few screws loose. Seemed pretty bent on murder and chaos."

Oh well, Miek had tried.

"Do you think that's what happened, Korg?" asked one of the younger Asgardian boys.

"I don't know," replied Korg. "But if Thanos got here first, he needs to be stopped before anyone else is threatened by his path. We must find any survivors and collaborate with them to stop that man."

 _What do we do?_ gestured Miek.

Korg eyed him thoughtfully. Miek still wasn't entirely sure Korg could understand him, but he liked to think so.

"We've gotta get the word out. Here on Klyntar, and then on to other planets, somehow. If enough people know, maybe they'll help any remaining Symbiotes. And us too." He added this last bit as an afterthought.

Everyone's gaze lingered on the paper stacks, and there was a long silence. Finally, Korg said, "So, um. How good are you guys at making pamphlets?"

* * *

Peter Parker was definitely going to be late for his monthly meeting with Mr. Stark. He stuffed his Spider-Man suit deeper into his backpack until it was sandwiched between his physics book and his chemistry binder. He zipped the bag forcefully, his heart pounding from the leftover excitement of the bank robbery he'd just foiled as his super alter-ego. High on adrenaline, he exited the alley at a run. He checked his phone as he ran down the lamplit sidewalk. There was a good reason why he could text and avoid bumping into people at the same time, but luckily no one asked him how he did it. The answer involved radioactive arachnids, super-senses, and probably some severe anxiety.

A quick scan of his messages told him he'd missed a lot.

 **Aunt May** : Pick up some milk please? See you tonight. Have fun at your internship. Proud of you.

 **Ned** : Are you ok

 **Ned** : Bank robbery are you ok

 **Ned** : Peter

 **Ned** : Peter

 **Ned** : P

 **Ned** : E

 **Ned** : T

 **Ned** : E

 **Ned** : R

 **MJ** : Yo I have notes for you from chem today but it'll cost you chocolate. You gotta stop skipping class man i know you're a genius but like.

Peter decided to deal with those later. It was already seven twenty five; Mr. Stark was expecting him at Stark Tower in five minutes, which was never going to happen at this rate. He started to run faster, passing a subway entrance and a bodega window with National Enquirer headlines proclaiming, "MATT DAMON STILL MISSING, AUTHORITIES CLAIM ALIEN ABDUCTION - Have you seen him?"

 _Can't believe everything you read,_ Peter thought wryly.

He passed a few more blocks, with Stark Tower ahead of him, glittering on the evening horizon. But then, out of nowhere, the oddest sensation stole over him. The hairs on his arms stood straight up, and a feeling entirely _other_ sank into him like a dagger between his shoulder blades. He stopped so abruptly that an elderly man walking a bicycle down the sidewalk beside him ran over Peter's toes.

He cast a look around, alarmed. He hadn't experienced something like this in a long time; but he imagined it was a warning of some sort. Peter took up his sprint again, but when the feeling increased in severity at the opening of an alley, he made the decision to follow down the narrow path. If he was already going to be late, a few more minutes of investigation couldn't hurt.

The alley was dark, but Peter couldn't mistake the group of people huddled toward the back of it. There was nowhere for them to go; it was a dead end blockaded by dumpsters on one side and an abandoned hotel on the other. There were five people standing nervously as if keeping watch. Behind them, at least fifteen others were easing their way, one by one, through the broken hotel windows until they vanished inside. Were these people just looking for a place to spend the night? Why were there so many of them? Did they need help?

Unsure whether or not this was a robbery, Peter hid in the shadows for a moment, thinking about what to do. He couldn't change into his suit here, but going in as a civilian could prove perilous. And, what if someone recognized him as Peter Parker, saw his skills, and put everything together? This city was a big place, but a small world.

And then Peter noticed the clothes. They were wearing old-school clothes, like Jedi robes, or maybe Shakespearean garb. Was there a Comic Con going on this week? He watched in silence for a few more minutes, debating what to do.

As if sensing this would be a horrible time to be conspicuous, his phone vibrated in his hand, and the noise startled the nearest of the strangers. The man pulled a knife from his sleeve and brandished it, eyes searching.

"Who's there?" the man demanded. He looked oddly familiar, but Peter couldn't place where he'd seen him.

"Whoa, sorry, I think I made a wrong turn," Peter said, throwing up his hands. His phone glowed in the dark, lighting up the faces with bluish light. They were not smiling; their eyes were haunted. The man didn't put down the knife.

"I'll just be going, then," Peter concluded. He turned to leave, but felt a hand on his shoulder. The man spun him back around and grabbed the phone. He clicked the button so the time and date displayed again. He stared at it for a minute, then said, "Is it really July?"

Peter blinked. "What? Of course it is. What planet are you on?"

The man didn't explain. "I've been gone a long time, then," he said solemnly. He sheathed his knife and turned to his friends. "We're definitely on Midgard, everyone!"

Someone in the group behind him exclaimed, "Let us get inside and tell the others. We will celebrate tonight and start our search tomorrow!" There was a lackluster cheer from everyone at this.

Peter turned on his heels and fled without another word. No more crazy for him today, nope, nope, nope.

Something at the back of his mind tugged at him. _Midgard_. He'd heard that before. But his mind was preoccupied with the face he'd seen. He had a feeling he knew who it was. What he didn't have was an explanation for it.

As he raced to Stark Tower, he checked his messages again.

 **Ned** : Are you dead

He replied immediately.

 **Peter:** No. But dude I think I just saw Matt Damon.

Peter reached Stark Tower at seven thirty five. The elevator doors slid open with a ding, and he stepped out expecting the red-faced bodyguard, Happy, to be there waiting to berate him for being late (again). Instead, Mr. Stark himself stood there, facing the famous Nick Fury himself, eyepatch and all. It was clear the two of them were having an intense discussion, while framed behind them, another tall man in a red cloak leaned against the wall, silently watching them argue. The cloak billowed lightly behind him, but there was no breeze. Maybe it was magic? The whole scene looked like an old painting of kings and sorcerers had come to life.

"Sir, Mr. Parker has arrived," a pleasant, disembodied voice announced. At this, the men stopped talking and stared at him. The elevator doors closed at his back with a swooping sound. The air conditioner whirred.

"Uh," he stammered. "If this is a bad time, Mr. Stark, I can come back later."

"No need," said Mr. Stark, his tone notably serious. "This is as good a time as any. We might need your help."

The man in the cloak made no move from his position in the back, other than to frown. Fury turned to face Peter. "It's an honor to meet you," he said, holding out a hand.

Peter took it, feeling like today was getting weirder and weirder. "Same. Uh, what's going on?" he asked.

"It appears," drawled Fury in an authoritative tone, "we have a situation."


	7. Adjust

**A/N: Sorry for the long wait! Thanks for your patience, everyone. Just so you know, I'm now cross-posting fics both here and on AO3 (same username). Hope you like this new chapter! More to come after the new year. Enjoy, and see you in 2019!**

* * *

When Bruce awoke the next morning, Valkyrie was kneeling on the floor, facing one of the windows on the starboard side of the ship with an unopened bottle at her side. She could feel him watching as she quietly offered her prayers for the dead, as was the Asgardian custom. It was not just for the Asgardians who likely died during the attack on their ship, but also for Thor. The last time she'd recited these lines, it had been for the Valkyries Hela had murdered. She tried to keep her face devoid of expression, but inside, she was seething from both anger and grief.

If Thor...no... _now_ that Thor was dead, Asgard was displaced and kingless. The only other heir was Loki, although if the events of the previous day were to be believed, Loki wasn't even Asgardian. Nevertheless, did that make Loki the new king?

Even if it did, Loki was in the hands of Thanos now, and couldn't help them. She wasn't even sure he would want to. Perhaps this was his plan all along, perhaps he meant to side with Thanos. With Loki, you could never really be too sure about his loyalty. But then...why would he send her to protect the real Space Stone?

She finished her prayers and sat back on her heels, thinking hard. She and Bruce had to get this stone to safety - the top priority. In a universe where Thanos would look for it, there were only three viable safe places.

One was the Collector's vault, but that would mean dancing too close to the Grandmaster for Valkyrie's comfort. The Collector was his brother, after all. That left either a deposit box in the Bank of the Universe, the most secure place in the nine realms, or, as a last resort, the Hulk himself.

There were very few indestructible beings in this universe, but the Hulk was definitely one of them. Perhaps she'd have him swallow it if Thanos got too close. She glanced over to where Bruce had propped himself back up against the wall. He'd be fine.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" he asked.

"No reason."

After a moment, he said, "That - that was a beautiful poem. Um. I mean, the one you were reciting."

"It's a mourning ritual." She couldn't conceal the rawness from her voice. "It's all I can do for Thor; we didn't even get to give him a king's burial."

Bruce winced. "So you really think he's dead?"

"I don't see how we could believe otherwise." She stood up, twisted the cap off her bottle, and walked over to checked the coordinates in the cockpit. They were still on course. She celebrated by taking a drink. It tasted like nothing; alcohol hadn't had a flavor to her for a long time.

"What are we going to do?" he asked.

She slumped into the cockpit chair and faced him. "We'll be on Kral X in about two days. From there, we can fuel up, get supplies, drink, and then ship off for the Bank of the Universe. I need a safety deposit box."

"Okay." He fidgeted with his hands. "But, what about in the meantime? Is there anything we can do right now? I...I need something to do."

"There isn't really anything else. We just have to be patient."

"Can you at least take my mind off of the fact that we're floating in space, a tiny speck in the crushingly large universe?"

"If it keeps you from panicking, sure. What happened to you last night?"

Or morning? Or afternoon? Time didn't really exist in space the way it did on planets. No sunrise, no sunset. It was five o'clock everywhere. Perfection.

"It's like the opposite of claustrophobia. Whatever that is?"

She shrugged. "I kind of meant, like, what happened to you and the Hulk? One minute I was arguing with him, and then all of a sudden it was _you_."

The question evidently struck a nerve; his desire for verbal distraction seemed to disappear at once. He didn't answer, but stood and focused on trying to salvage his borrowed outfit, attempting to make it fit better. Valkyrie decided to let it go, at least for now.

She watched him as he fidgeted with the clothes, thinking absently about how in other circumstances, this would be funny. For as tall as the Hulk was, Bruce was such an average looking human; not tall, not short, not necessarily memorable. The clothes were bulky and too long in the legs and arms. He looked hilarious and completely un-terrifying. For someone so unassuming, it was shocking he could be Hulk underneath it all. He was like the species of lizards on Asgard that camouflage - _camouflaged_ \- to their surroundings, then turned a violent green color before going in for the kill with poisonous fangs. They were marvelously brutal creatures. Perhaps Banner was like that too, as little as he'd probably enjoy being compared to them. If she'd been talking to the Hulk, she'd probably mention the similarity, but she felt like Banner was still a stranger. She had to be more careful.

He turned back to her and it seemed that he'd temporarily gained some ground in whatever internal battle he was enduring. "Like I said, I don't really know," he said, voice as raw as hers had been a moment ago. "I wasn't even sure if I'd come back after that day on the bridge when I jumped off the ship. The Hulk hasn't been as willing to give up control lately."

She tilted her bottle to him in toast. "For the record, what you did on the bridge was wicked."

"Thanks."

"Continue."

Bruce didn't look like he wanted to, but there really wasn't anything else to do, so he capitulated. "I think you must have said something to bring me back. Like maybe a trigger or something. What did you say before it happened?"

"How am I supposed to remember? It's a blur. We were looking for Thor, I was trying to save him. And I was telling you to hurry up? And help? I think I said I need you to find Thor, or something...I definitely said I needed you."

Bruce widened his eyes. "Oh."

"Does that mean anything to you?"

His expression instantly shuttered to stoic indifference, as though the vulnerable side of Bruce had completely shut down. "I don't want to discuss this anymore."

Valkyrie narrowed her eyes curiously. "Does this have something to do with Natasha? Who's Natasha?"

"Don't," he shook his head, eyes fluttering downward. "You - how do you know that?"

"You talk in your sleep."

Valkyrie hadn't slept at all, so she'd heard everything. _Natasha, Steve, Tony, Thor. Hulk now Champion. Get out of my head. Hulk hate Bruce. It's mutual._

Bruce shook his head again. "That's not your business."

"If it's a long story," she said, propping her feet up on the dashboard and taking another drink, "we have plenty of time to talk about your girlfriend."

In retrospect, she realized that was rather cruel. She wasn't sure where this mean streak was coming from. It could have originated from lots of places. Thor dying, Asgard exploding, being cooped up in a ship with a stranger who was once her friend, feeling powerless, all the alcohol, not sleeping…her destructive options had become a roulette wheel that was starting to spin out of control. It was hard to feel apologetic, though; all the negativity pouring out of her felt good to express. She'd never felt guilty about it on Sakaar.

Bruce finally snapped. "You know nothing about me! How dare you? Who even are you, anyway? You might be friends with the Hulk, but he's not around right now and for once _I'd_ like to know what's going on without having to justify my personal life to you. I've been missing in action for two years on an alien planet, and I can't remember anything about it. It's like blacking out after a wild night, but so much worse. How do you account for _so much_ lost time?"

Valkyrie couldn't help it; she exploded too. "What do _you_ know about lost time? Two years? That's nothing! I've been around for thousands of years, and living that long breeds losses you can't even imagine. You're not the only one who has things in their past they don't understand, and you're lucky you can't remember your darkest moments as Hulk. Why do you think I drink so much?" She hefted her half-full bottle and waved it angrily. "It's a poor man's amnesia, because the pain never goes away completely. It just drowns for a little while. My memories don't ever die, even when I think I've finally buried them. The only times they leave me alone are when I drink enough, and when I am at war. Don't ever think you're the saddest in the room, or the angriest. You don't come close."

With that, she drained the rest of her bottle in two gulps, and chucked it at the far wall. It splintered violently into shards of green glass, but Bruce didn't even flinch this time. Perhaps she was getting predictable.

There was a long silence and Valkyrie suddenly felt guilt creeping in. With the Hulk, if she'd treated him this way, they would have sparred and gotten it out of their systems with violence, and she wouldn't feel bad about using him as an outlet for her rage. But with Bruce, it felt wrong to exact her anger on him somehow. The Hulk could handle it, and actually wanted to. But Bruce was different.

"You know," he said mildly, staring at the remnants of the bottle, "I think you might have a worse anger problem than me. Maybe that's why you and the Hulk got along."

Valkyrie had opened her mouth before he'd finished speaking, but his response caught her so much by surprise that a snort of amusement escaped instead of her prepared disclosure. "What?"

"Look, I'm sorry, I shouldn't be so angry and guarded. But. If it's not obvious, I'm a little out of my element. I feel trapped in this tiny ship, surrounded by almost infinite blackness, and I'm worried we're being hunted by a purple maniac and I'm worried my friend is dead. After what you told me happened with Thanos...I haven't been able to process it as calmly as I'd like. I can't stop thinking about it and I don't even _remember_ most of it. But," he paused, taking a moment to choose his words, "my emotions aren't my identity, and it was wrong of me to put my burdens on you, especially since I'm not the only one with problems around here. I can't even imagine what you've been through."

With that, he attempted a smile, all trace of his previous anger gone. Valkyrie couldn't believe her eyes. That was it? That tiny spark of anger and then just...calm? It almost irritated her, the way he could prevent himself from lashing out. She'd been expecting him to Hulk out, almost craving it just so she could let out her own anger too. It still burned underneath her guilt.

She must have been around Sakaarians for too long. They rode their emotions like a careless tsunami, from melting each other with sticks to eagerly attending the slaughters the Grandmaster hosted to tout his Champion. Bruce was right: no wonder she, the Hulk, and Loki had fit in so well there. They lacked that kind of peaceful control over their emotions. Their rage expressed itself in less constructive ways that often involved defensive gesturing with sharp objects.

"You know," she replied, "I think you could probably teach me a some of your chill attitude. Seeing as I have none."

"Okay. Well, I'm game if you are. We _are_ going to be spending a lot of time together. I'm keen on keeping things civil and keeping the Hulk at bay."

"Fine."

A pause, then Bruce spoke up again, fidgeting with his ill-fitting shirt.

"Hey...I um, I have a question. What should I call you? Like...what is your actual name?"

She sighed. "Long story."

Bruce arched an eyebrow. "We have time."

Fair. "All right. Um. Look. Once you're a Valkyrie on Asgard, you never stop being a Valkyrie. That's part of the oath. It's permanently my identity, even if for a while I chose to forget that part of myself on Sakaar. But Asgard named me a Valkyrie for what I am, not _who_ I am. I am known by what I can do for them as a warrior, even though I do technically have another name."

He put his hands in his pockets. "Then what is it?"

She crossed her arms. "That's the thing. It doesn't matter. Look, do you think people would call the Hulk "Bruce" if you asked them to? No, of course they wouldn't. The idea of who you are is already ingrained in most people's minds. You and I, we aren't ourselves anymore. We're representations of ideas. We might as well embrace it. I haven't gone by my name in at least a thousand years. That girl is dead. I'm a Valkyrie for life, even if I'm the only one."

"I understand. I'll call you Valkyrie. And you can call me Bruce if you want. I know our introduction was probably a little rushed last time, so I'm glad we finally covered this. And...um...I'm glad we're in this together. It's a relief not to be alone." With that, he sat down again, back against the wall, surrounded by broken bits of the inside of the ship and shattered glass. He picked up a few of the ship parts, looking intent and curious, then began to disassemble them. She watched him without speaking as he tried to figure out how they worked. One of them was the air conditioner, so she let him keep going; if he managed to fix it, she'd be thrilled.

A subdued, thoughtful silence stretched on like this for what could have been hours. Valkyrie wasn't sure if the conversation had ended, or if Bruce was just processing it all and needed the quiet to avoid Hulking out. When they were talking again, she'd ask about Bruce's calm demeanor. It made her wonder how he quelled his anger.

She checked the coordinates again, and continued to watch Bruce as he started putting things back together. He searched the ship for where they belonged, and by the time they were a day away from Kral X, he'd already reinstalled the air conditioner. She'd never seen anything like it, but didn't comment on it until he finally took a seat beside her in the cockpit, leaned back, and closed his eyes in satisfaction.

"How did you do that?" she finally asked, marveling at the comfortable air now coming through the vents.

"The AC? It's nothing really. I've done it before. The mechanics are almost the same as on Earth. I learn fast."

"You studied this? They teach you how to repair air conditioners on Midgard?"

"I have seven PhDs; I can do more than fix stuff. I studied engineering, medicine, biology, chemistry, and philosophy; I can also speak three languages...believe it or not, I'm more than just the Hulk."

Valkyrie blinked. "What is a PhD?"

"A doctorate? It's like...being a master in your field. I spent a lot of time doing research and writing papers."

"You didn't learn to battle?" This was inconceivable.

"Not until the Hulk came into the picture. Alone, I can barely throw a punch."

So he wasn't always like this. That was interesting. She didn't ask how he'd gotten this way. It seemed the Hulk was still somewhat of a touchy subject, and Valkyrie didn't want to get into that while they were crammed on a ship together. Instead, they talked about battle strategies. Valkyrie showed him her knives and he helped sharpen them. Bruce's mood was much improved; he'd been right all along, he needed something to do.

Eventually, Bruce got up and walked back to the kitchen for more drinks. He opened two bottles and made his way back over to Valkyrie. He placed one bottle in her open hand and sat back down in one of the cockpit chairs, where they had an unobstructed view of the path their ship was slowly taking. They gazed at the slowly passing stars.

She was startled from her reverie by the sound of Bruce coughing uncontrollably.

"You okay?"

"Agh," he wheezed between coughs, "what's...in...this...drink?"

"It's Groot Juice. It's the strongest alcohol in the galaxy, made from aged tree sap and honey. I was surprised you picked it, but I just assumed you knew what you were doing."

When he'd recovered himself, he said, "I thought it was beer. I think I'll let you have mine...it's not agreeing with me."

Lightweight. She grinned. "Yeah, okay."

"Valkyrie?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorry about Thor. I don't want him to be gone, but if he is, he didn't die for nothing. We're going to take down Thanos."

"I know," she said, wishing the ship could make it to Kral X faster. "I know."


	8. Awkward

**A/N: Hi, I'm sorry it's been like 3 months without an update, life got crazy and kind of out of hand. I've regained some balance now. Thank you so much for your patience! Please enjoy some awkward Peter Parker. Writing him is so much fun, you guys. Hope you enjoy reading this latest chapter!**

* * *

"A situation? What situation?" Peter Parker asked.

He was still standing in front of the elevator as Fury and Tony Stark stared at him with expressions of grave resolve. In the background, Peter thought he heard the mysterious man in the red cape scoff from where he stood leaning against the far wall.

For a moment, Peter thought he might be in trouble. Had he done something wrong? After scrolling through the mostly mundane memories of his life as a high school nerd with spider powers, he came up empty. Nothing he'd done could be bad enough to warrant a visit from Fury himself.

But then he thought about Matt Damon and the other Jedi-robed individuals he'd just encountered. Was that the kind of weirdness that would be on the Avengers' radar? Should he tell them about his meeting?

Before he could say anything, the moment of scrutiny passed. The man in the red cape coughed pointedly and joined the rest of the group where they stood in the entryway. "We've detected a disturbance that is making its way toward Earth."

Peter's mind immediately jumped to an elaborate visualization of an asteroid blotting out the sun over Queens as Aunt May gazed up in abject horror. It took a few moments for him to come back to reality before he realized the caped man was still talking, a tinge of sarcasm threaded into his words.

"-the spacecraft will be here in a matter of days. I'm sure you'll all be delighted to hear that boundless wreckage and destruction is being left on every visited planet across at least two galaxies. Populations systematically decimated. And that's not even the best part. He is searching for the Infinity Stones, and he has already found two."

There was a ripple of concern across Fury's face. Based on that reaction, it seemed this wasn't about the Jedi people in the alley after all. They were probably just cosplayers.

"Who-" Peter began.

The man reached out an orange-gloved hand. "Doctor Steven Strange."

"No, I mean-"

"I know," he said, "it's strange."

"You just said that," said Peter. "I mean who _is_ Strange?"

"Me. I mean. It's my name."

"Wait, then who's on the spacecraft?"

There was a collective sigh.

Mr. Stark was the one to explain. "No. _This_ is Doctor Steven Strange. He's a wizard."

"I prefer Master of the Mystic Arts," Strange interrupted.

Mr. Stark waved a hand dismissively. "Wizard is cooler."

"He was referring to Thanos, who is leading an intergalactic army that is quickly approaching our planet," Fury clarified.

"Although, that whole exchange _was_ hilarious," added Mr. Stark. "Like _Who's On First_."

Peter didn't bother pointing out this reference made no sense to him. Thankfully, he wasn't the only one irritated by this exchange. Strange actually rolled his eyes. It was an unexpected move from someone who seemed so dignified.

"Anyway," Strange continued, "Thanos has a weapon called the Infinity Gauntlet, and when each of the stones has been acquired to complete it...well. You saw what Loki could do with just one. Think about what this means, Tony. He'll be unstoppable."

"Yes, well, 'unstoppable' is our favorite word," Mr. Stark quipped.

"We do have a long, undefeated history with opponents of that nature," agreed Fury, "But I think we need to discuss a more thorough plan this time."

This prompted further discussion, and the men moved to stand in a closer circle, debating different strategies. Peter found himself awkwardly standing off to the side, able to hear the discussion but not really able to comment on anything. The talk of hope that they could prepare for the arrival of Thanos seemed bolster them, but Peter hadn't stopped sweating since he'd gotten here. He felt like a little kid wrongfully included at the adult table. Like he shouldn't be here. He glanced back to the elevator, wondering if he should extricate himself.

Mr. Stark noticed this gesture, and rather than offering to escort him out, decided that their conversation would be better discussed over drinks in his lounge. They made their way to it through a long tiled hallway, and Peter wasn't sure if he felt happy about this development. He looked back to find the elevator doors had disappeared from view, and tried not to feel worried.

The lounge was like something out of a movie. The white couches looked expensively minimalistic and the coffee table was made entirely of frosted glass. The floor-to-ceiling windows at the back of the room revealed the majestic city skyline in what could only be a multi-million dollar view. A massive flat screen TV was mounted to the wall opposite the couch, and a full bar was built in the corner. To the right of where they stood in the entryway to the room was a very real Da Vinci drawing, preserved in a gilded, climate-controlled podium and illuminated with a spotlight. A certificate of authenticity was preserved in an identical podium next to it. Because of course.

Sometimes Peter forgot how rich Mr. Stark was, and then stuff like this happened. Just when he started to feel comfortable around the billionaire, he was reminded again just how insane this lifestyle was, and it made him feel like they didn't really know each other at all.

He stood very still for a moment, taking it all in. He'd never been in this room before; usually his "internship" took place in Mr. Stark's lab or at the Avengers' facility upstate; places where things could get messy and dangerous without ruining anybody's actual living space.

"What do you want, kid?" asked Mr. Stark. He was already standing poised at the bar, shoveling ice into a clear glass. "I can give you anything but alcohol - your aunt would kill me."

"Give him a Roy Rogers," Fury interrupted in a charming, almost grandfatherly tone, "he seems like a Roy Rogers sort of man."

"Am I?" Peter stammered as Fury steered him to the bar. He had the feeling he should be slightly offended. From his understanding, a Roy Rogers was exactly the kind of drink you shouldn't order around people you were trying to impress. If he ordered something like that around people in his class, they'd probably make fun of him for ordering a little kid's drink. But Fury somehow seemed to think this was a compliment.

Before he could protest, the drink was pressed into his clammy hands, and Peter found a spot beside Doctor Strange on one of the pristine sofas. It was so rarely used that the cushion actually crunched as he sat down.

There was a quiet moment in which he evaluated his current stress levels. They were high. After all, he was in the presence of a literal Da Vinci drawing, sitting on a crispy couch with a child's soda, planning to stop the end of the world with the former director of SHIELD, Iron Man, and a space wizard. He stared hatefully at the maraschino cherry on top of his drink and wondered when his life had gotten so complicated. He missed the days when all he had to worry about was physics homework.

He took a sip from the drink, preparing to be disgusted, but it was actually delicious. Fury had been right. Peter hid his surprise, though, not wanting to give any of them the satisfaction. He instead elected to give a stoic nod with each sip, the way Strange seemed to be doing with his whiskey. Peter assumed it was whiskey. He didn't really know anything about alcohol yet. Neither he nor Ned had ever been deemed cool enough to invite to a party where people drank.

"Okay. What we need," declared Fury as he made himself comfortable on the sofa with a glass of something golden, "is to assemble everyone with a stake in this fight. All the Avengers. Where is everyone, Stark? What's the status on Rogers and Vision? Wanda? Thor?"

There was an uncomfortable silence, and this time Peter knew why. He looked down into his glass, feeling guilty. This was about the big feud. The one Mr. Stark had brought him in on. The one where he'd fought Captain America. After the fight, the Avengers had split up, presumably for good. Under Fury's interrogatory stare, Peter felt complicit in some kind of crime. Like this was his fault.

Mr. Stark set his glass on the table and it made a brittle clink. "Steve and I aren't speaking. We have no plans to."

"With all due respect," said Strange, "this is more important than your divorce."

"Ordinarily," replied Fury, "I would tell you this really isn't the time or place for that, Strange, but under the circumstances, I'm inclined to agree. Tony, this situation is of slightly higher priority than your petty disagreement." Even with one eye, the look on Fury's face was one of such disdainful annoyance that Peter actually felt afraid. Strange merely leaned back on the couch as if to watch this unfold like a telenovela plot. He almost appeared to enjoy watching Mr. Stark splutter.

" _Petty_? The 'Winter Soldier'" - here Mr. Stark made angry air-quotes - "killed my parents, and Steve defended him."

"James Barnes," countered Fury, "is not the only person to have done things in their past they regret. You were once that man, unless you have forgotten."

Mr. Stark stared bitterly at him for a moment.

"May I remind you," interjected Strange, "we have four days until Thanos gets here. And that's the optimistic estimation. We don't exactly have time to squabble about this; we either unite for a common goal, or the universe dies. I think we can all agree that that's not much of a choice. We need to assemble and get the stones we possess in a safe, protected location as soon as possible."

 _The enemy of my enemy is my friend_ , thought Peter. He thought he'd read that somewhere. It was probably in a history book. Or maybe Shakespeare? Maybe it was fanfic.

Fury gave Strange an appreciative look, then turned to Mr. Stark. "I'm bringing in all our other contacts tomorrow morning. You must call Steve Rogers, Tony. This isn't a request. We're going to need all hands on deck."

Mr. Stark took a phone out of his pocket with a heaviness that conveyed a palpable dread. He stared at it in his palms, in some Hamletian gesture as if it was a skull. Peter expected Mr. Stark to have some kind of witty comeback for Fury, but perhaps he had more respect for the man than Peter had imagined, because he said nothing. He merely stood, pressed a button on the screen, held the phone to his ear with a belabored sigh, and stepped out into the entryway.

Fury took a satisfied sip from his drink. "Guilt works on him every time."

There was a silence that seemed to stretch on for eternity, in which Strange pulled out a sleek silver phone of his own and started texting. Given his cape, gloves, and general demeanor, it was somewhat anachronistic to see him using technology. Peter was realizing very quickly that Strange was full of surprises; that would probably be an advantage against Thanos.

This prompted a question, one which Peter decided to ask before he could change his mind. "Sir. Mr- uh, Director Fury, what am I still doing here? Why do you need me?"

Fury looked at him in surprise. "You're Spider-Man." As if this explained everything.

"But I'm _sixteen_. We're talking about a space invasion; my main experience has been with like, tiny problems in comparison. Lizard mutants, arms dealers, bank robbers, that stuff."

"Saving the world doesn't have an age restriction," Strange pointed out. "And, like Fury said, we need everyone we have. Especially you.. We wouldn't be including you in the discussion if we didn't think you could help us. Fury and Stark see something in you; they believe in you."

Fury hammered it home. "Not only because we've seen what you can do, Peter, but because we _must_ believe in you. We need any and all help possible. Thanos is the most serious foe we will likely ever face, assuming he isn't the _last_ one we face."

Peter swallowed hard, the lingering sweetness of the grenadine aching against his throat. "Okay," he said, motivation flaring out to steady his pulse. "What do you need me to do?"


	9. Amenities

Valkyrie landed the Commodore on Kral X in one of the deserted outer sectors. Bruce, for his part, found the landing process distinctly uncomfortable, but he didn't succumb to motion sickness, so they at least had that going for them. Under the pink sky of second dawn - the planet had two suns - Valkyrie and Bruce emerged onto the gray, dusty surface, where a roundabout street carved into the dust extended for probably two or three miles to a distant cityscape.

Aetna, a small city on Kral X, was constructed out of gray bricks made from the ubiquitous, inescapable dust the planet was covered with. Glowing blue lights peppered the tiny window spaces in between the bricks, so in the dim illumination of second sunrise, the skyline was like a lavender constellation of towering rectangles.

In her previous travels, back before she'd ended up on Sakaar, Valkyrie had always loved Kral X, particularly around this time of day. It was beautiful and quiet, and the bonus was that most Aetnians kept to themselves, so one could do business without being disturbed.

When she had closed and secured the entrance hatch to their ship, assured it would deter any unwelcome stowaways or thieves, she turned to find Bruce staring at the view of Aetna, awestruck.

"You okay?"

"Fine."

"New planet," she stated, knowing it was obvious, but still unsure of how to really talk to him. The rest of their flight had been rather quiet.

"Yeah, this is number three."

"Congratulations," she grinned. "You've got plenty more to see. After we get to the Bank of the Universe, we're going to have to figure out where to go next, because we sure aren't staying there."

Bruce sighed. "As long as the atmospheres on these new planets support human physiology, I'll be fine."

Valkyrie squinted, running through her mental map of the Andromeda Galaxy. It had been a long time since she'd been out this way. Luckily, galaxies were pretty steadfast, if your lifespan was short enough and your planet didn't have a prescribed Ragnarok-style end date like Asgard. It was unlikely anything had changed. Valkyrie herself was pretty old, but nobody could hold a candle to the celestial. Well, except perhaps the Grandmaster and the Collector. Thanos might be a contender too, but he didn't seem smart enough to have lived that long. For as much as the Grandmaster had his eccentricities, when you're that old and powerful, you know full well that you can do what you want, and you're smart enough to make people underestimate you. Thanos, on the other hand, was just good at making people angry, and had yet to learn what a mistake that was.

"We might have to stay off Karos," she mused, "the atmosphere's predominantly Radon. And maybe Alden, it's full of snakes."

She began to walk, following the road to Aetna, and Bruce followed.

"I can handle snakes," he assured her, though he didn't sound very convincing.

"I don't think you understand, it's literally full of snakes. Like, the whole planet is made of snakes. That's it."

"Oh." Bruce looked horrified and tried soothing himself by adjusting his ill-fitting clothes.

"Yeah. But Kral X has no snakes, and it has lots of amenities we can take advantage of."

"Like what?"

She kicked up some dust with her white boot, and it settled slowly behind them. "Like a fuel cell station. We have to stock up while we can. And a bar, of course."

Right," Bruce nodded. Valkyrie appreciated the fact that he didn't seem to be judging her for the whole bar thing. "Do they, uh, have any stores for clothing? Maybe like, a Target or something?"

She crinkled her nose. "What's a target?"

"Never mind."

"Yeah, there's a few places for clothes, we'll find something."

"Wait," Bruce stopped suddenly and put out a hand. He dropped his voice to a hushed whisper, despite the fact that they were the only ones around. "Where's the stone? Did you leave it on the ship?"

"No, I'm not an idiot," she snorted, then tapped her right side belt pocket. "I'm keeping it close."

"How are you able to touch it? I thought they were really powerful. Dangerous. Corrosive or radioactive or something."

"It's not touching my skin," she said, brushing off the concern and walking forward again. She knew she sounded confident, but inwardly, she realized that was a good question. In the mania of battle, she hadn't questioned it when Loki had charged her with the space stone's protection. But in the new calm of having recuperated and distanced herself from the painful memory of losing Thor, Valkyrie began to wonder if there was something she didn't know. Was the stone truly real? Was Loki to be trusted? What would she and Bruce do if the answer to either of those questions was no?

If the stone was real, then once they were able to deposit it at the Bank of the Universe, what was next? Would they go to Midgard to find the Asgardians? Try to find Thanos? Beat him to the infinity stones? There were many options, nearly all of them death wishes, and Valkyrie had no interest in dying yet.

"Okay," said Bruce from behind her. "I imagine Asgardians can handle them safely, you guys are like, indestructible. But keep it away from me, if you don't mind."

She idly remembered her unspoken plan to have the Hulk swallow it if they were out of all other options. It was still the plan. "No problem."

They trekked a while longer, until the lavender light gave way to a magenta sky that illuminated more rolling dunes of gray dust. Once they entered the city limits, the closer look afforded them a better view of the bricked structures, where there were different symbols carved into the individual bricks. Valkyrie noticed Bruce examining them with interest, and explained.

"They're names of all the inhabitants, past and present. Aetnians, and all the rest of Kral X, believe the presence of the names wards off evil. When the current owners first move in, they carve their names on the nearest unfilled brick, working the way up the building. The oldest ones have runes floor to ceiling, and then they start on a new side. Aetnians are all about permanence and memory. They never destroy anything they've created."

Bruce's expression was open and impressed. "That's incredible," he whispered.

Valkyrie silently agreed. She urged them forward down the curving path until it fed into a main street. Larger brick buildings lined the road, with violet awnings announcing their purposes in delicately scripted runes. At the center of the square was a small temple surrounded by a garden of small plants.

"What's that?" Bruce asked.

"A holy place. Only Aetnians are allowed inside."

"Cool. Where are we going, then? Actually," he drifted off, spinning in a circle and surveying the empty area, "where is everyone?"

"Asleep. People on Kral X are nocturnal."

"Whoa, really?"

"Yeah."

"Wait, what time is it?"

Valkyrie cocked her head, looking up at the two suns, judging the distance between them. "Uh...it's complicated."

"What? You mean like they don't do time here?"

"No," she rolled her eyes, "I mean Kral X has twelve hour revolutions, so day and night are each six hours long here in Aetna, which is near their equator. We're on hour five of the cycle, based on the second sunrise, so their night starts in an hour."

"Oh, cool," Bruce brushed some lingering dust out of his hair, and it floated slowly around his head like a halo.

"Yeah, none of the planets use the same time schedule, it gets too confusing. And for a while, we had a universal time conversion, which calculated the time based on all the planets relative to each other, but there are so many galaxies to consider that the guy who tried to do all the math eventually gave up. Some even say he went mad. If it's too confusing even for him, nobody else wants to try, so we just adjust based on the planet we're on."

Bruce, unexpectedly, laughed.

"So," Valkyrie glanced around to get her bearings, "we should get our fuel cells first, since that place is open at all times, and then once everything else opens, we can get you new clothes and I can get a drink."

"Sounds like a plan."

* * *

Running errands took far more time than expected. They purchased the fuel cells from the robotic automated vending machine fairly easily, but it took forever to drag a fascinated Bruce away from it. The endeavor of purchasing new clothes for him was even worse, but in the end, his new wardrobe was worth the effort, if Valkyrie could say so herself. He got three new outfits, from the new filth-repelling line, which meant they'd hardly ever need to be cleaned. Given how they were planning on living on a spaceship for much of the foreseeable future, this was a must.

The outfit Bruce decided to wear out of the other shop (the other two safely deposited in a small anti-wrinkle sack) was probably the tamest of them. It consisted of dark green pants in some unpronounceable fabric, and a black button down shirt with long sleeves. The shirt was also reversible to a rainbow iridescent pattern, as the cranky, green-skinned Aetnian merchant proudly pointed out with two of his six claw-like limbs. Bruce chose black for now. The outfit was completed with black all-weather boots with small black leather wings protruding from the heels. They were not removable, and the merchant seemed scandalized when Valkyrie had asked.

After the overwhelming experience of shopping on an unfamiliar planet and interacting with six-armed crablike green beings, it seemed Bruce was tired and in need of a place to sit down and process. Valkyrie was happy to indulge, and decided they'd go to the bar next. It was nearly the end of the night anyway, they'd make it just in time for what was the Aetnian equivalent of a Midgard "happy hour".

She was positively thrumming with enjoyment. It was a relief to be somewhere other than a spaceship or Sakaar, to explore again, to be reminded of the life teeming outside of her bubble. And with the prospect of a drink on the horizon, she felt pretty great.

At least, she did, until they stepped out of the clothing shop on the now fully-dark street, and she happened to spare a glance at the nextdoor residence. It was a nondescript home with carved runes up the front face like handwritten ivy. She eyed the most recent brick, and muttered, "No way."

Without any preamble, she dragged Bruce through a bustling crowd of Aetnians to get a closer look.

"Hey, what?" Bruce sounded concerned, his face barely visible in the darkness. "Is something wrong?"

She stared at the brick with the current tenant's name, an undeniable script of three familiar runes. "Nothing's wrong," Valkyrie grimaced, "but I have a feeling we're gonna run into someone I know."

And sure enough, when they entered the most popular bar in Aetna, where its residents came to wind down after another night's work, Valkyrie spotted someone familiar almost immediately. She'd know that shiny ponytail anywhere.

The sight made her want to turn around and leave, but her childhood frenemy chose that very moment to turn around in her seat, and they met eyes. Just perfect.

"Ughhhh, fiiiine," Valkyrie groaned, and stalked forward with Bruce at her side. "Let's go say hi to Sif."


	10. Anticipation

Sunlight seeped through the windows inside the throne room. It was very early, but morning in Wakanda was still bright and persistent enough to illuminate T'Challa's tired face before he was ready to appreciate it. As the resident night owl in his family, he had always struggled to meet the fresh start of the day with as much enthusiasm as the soothing end of one.

During his childhood, his parents had assumed Shuri would be the one who enjoyed staying up late. But, at age seven, she surprised them by rising early enough to not only brew a pot of rooibos but also construct an entire bicycle in the research lab (all while wearing safety glasses) before anyone else had even stirred. The first time she did this, she had to get up at four to pick the lock to the lab, but eventually everyone left the door unlocked to spare her another fifteen minutes when she could be sleeping. Meanwhile, T'Challa would be fast asleep with a pillow over his head, having stayed up past midnight the night before, reading books and tracking constellations. Something about being the last one awake charged him with energy, and he liked to imagine himself a protector, the first one to know if someone were to cause a disturbance at that hour.

Things were still the same way for the two of them, but now their responsibilities had multiplied. T'Challa had taken to rising earlier and earlier to find enough time to care properly for his people, and Shuri was staying up later and later to keep inventing after an already full day of setting up their outreach centers. In fact, T'Challa was currently sitting at a pop-up desk she'd installed for him last month. Shuri had cleverly designed it to fold out of the floor.

This was a recent improvement, after he'd requested a place to do research that didn't prompt him to leave the throne room. He'd realized that, since becoming king, the first place anyone went when trying to find him was here, and not his personal quarters. While he appreciated this, it meant he spent a lot of time in this room, and on a day like today, having a place to work comfortably was a necessity.

He continued to scour news feeds, pausing every once in a while to make a note for his upcoming meeting with the Border Tribe. These meetings were becoming more and more frequent, ever since he had returned from making his statement at the United Nations. T'Challa intended to live up to his word; the real Wakanda would conceal the light of its existence from the world no longer. But he'd also been working with W'Kabi to ensure that, while Wakanda no longer hid in the shadows, they would not become vulnerable to attack or exploitation.

Once he felt satisfied he'd gleaned enough information on current events for today's discussion, T'Challa rubbed his eyes and put the tablet aside. He stood and walked over to the nearest window to examine the clouds on the horizon. They were darkening as the sun climbed higher. He was just musing on whether they'd see a thunderstorm that afternoon when the doors behind him opened unexpectedly.

He spun to find Okoye and three other Dora Milaje entering the room. They held spears aloft, and the tips glinted like fire in the light. They were wearing their usual serious expressions and red armor. What was unusual was the man they had brought with them.

He was bound at the wrists, but it didn't look like he'd put up much of a fight at getting caught. That alone was something that made people around here uneasy. The dangerous people were the ones who _wanted_ to get caught.

"My King," Okoye greeted him, her gaze fierce and concerned.

"Okoye, what is this?" T'Challa examined the guest, marveling at his unique eyes.

"We discovered this man lurking at our borders. He has refused to explain his behavior, and insisted only upon being taken to you."

"By name?" T'Challa raised an eyebrow.

One of the Dora answered, "Simply 'the king'."

T'Challa approached the man carefully, drawing his hands behind his back. As he drew closer, he took in the intruder's disheveled appearance. The dirty robes he was wearing resembled nothing T'Challa had ever seen before. But, as Shuri often reminded him, there was still much T'Challa had never seen before. Like Matt Damon movies and primitive aircraft technology and, apparently, some fashion trends.

He narrowed his eyes and considered the stranger. "Who are you?"

The man was unnervingly calm, and responded in a voice deep and rumbling, like distant thunder. "I am a peaceful traveler, passing through with an important message. I mean no harm, but I warn against another who does."

T'Challa detected an odd accent and a subtle expression of fear...though, interestingly, not of the him or the Dora. "Do you know me?" he prompted.

"No," the stranger confessed.

"Can you tell me where you think you are?"

"I know I am on Midgard," said the man. "Beyond that, I am not sure." _Midgard_? Wasn't that an old term for Earth? Part of a legend?

"You do not know the name of this place?" T'Challa kept his voice devoid of skepticism, though it was a challenge.

"No."

"Mmm." He still suspected this intruder was here as a spy, and wanted to maintain an advantage should it become necessary.

Instead of explaining anything, T'Challa continued smoothly with the questions, the way his father taught him to assess a threat. _Pretend to take someone at their word until you can verify. Never provide information the other party does not already have._

"Very well," he said, "Why have you requested to meet with me? If you expect me to release you without pardon or questioning, you are mistaken. While I am also peaceful _like you_ , we are a cautious people with good reason to be so."

 _Appeal to similarities to inspire trust._

The man lifted his head, a new desperation creeping over his features. "I bring a dire warning. This is the first inhabited place I have reached in many days, and too much time has already passed. You are in grave danger, and you must tell everyone to prepare immediately."

"It is impertinent to give a king orders, given your position," admonished Okoye.

The man's eyes darted between her and T'Challa, and he seemed to be waiting for permission to continue.

 _Indebt them to you._

"I will hear you," T'Challa decided, while Okoye and the other Dora quickly hid their expressions of surprise. "It is foolish to let a warning go unspoken, even if we do not trust the source. _However_ ," he pressed as he saw the man open his mouth to speak, "I cannot hear your warning today."

 _Do not yield to their requests right away. See how they react to disappointment._

He continued, "I have a pressing issue that demands my attention. But I will gather the elders and we will hear you tomorrow. Until then, we will keep you under surveillance here, unless we are somehow assured you are not a threat to our nation's security."

It was true, T'Challa did have a busy day, but this postponement was less about that and more about eliciting a reaction.

"I understand. That is better than I hoped for," the stranger sighed, tilting his head to the side. T'Challa did the same, and they considered each other in silence for a moment.

 _Analyze the response._

While he'd never show it, T'Challa was startled by the man's easy acceptance. He'd expected him to get angry, or insist the warning could not wait. He was coming to understand this visitor was singular in manner from anyone else he'd interrogated before. A feeling of foreboding, however inexplicable, descended onto his shoulders.

The Dora led the stranger back out of the throne room, where they would escort him down to the subsurface levels to a small waiting room. The man wasn't exactly a prisoner, and the room was furnished with enough to make anyone at least comfortable, but it was also the perfect place to make sure he didn't wander out of sight. A few Dora would be stationed at the door at all times, and all things would be brought to the man to minimize his exposure to Wakanda in case there was indeed something nefarious afoot.

It didn't make T'Challa feel any better. He suspected he had a long night ahead of him, where he'd be staring at the stars, anxious to hear what the warning was. He disliked this part the most; the waiting and temperance. His mind would bend into all kinds of shapes, imagining the worst scenarios. But for now, his thoughts were interrupted by Okoye, who had stayed behind.

"Why did you grant his request? For all we know he is a madman. What made you listen to him?" she asked.

He looked at her thoughtfully, somewhat pleased she'd known what he was thinking. Sure, his decision had been partly a manipulation tactic, but he was genuinely curious. There was something specific about the stranger that made him unusually invested this time. "It was his eyes, Okoye."

She frowned. "What do you mean?"

T'Challa folded his desk back into its slot on the floor with a click, then straightened. He glanced out the window at the gathering storm, weighing his words before answering.

"I want to know what brings a man with the eyes of a lion into the home of the Black Panther."


End file.
